Gwangju School Sites Promote 'Return to Normal'... "To Pre-COVID Levels"

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[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education will fully resume all educational activities conducted at schools through full in-person attendance starting next month.

The Office of Education plans to operate the curriculum at pre-COVID-19 levels in line with the government's school normalcy recovery plan and will completely abolish the existing academic operation types that were run for quarantine purposes.

All schools in the district will operate a "school normalcy recovery preparation period" until the 30th to address any shortcomings, after which full school normalcy recovery will be actively pursued.

Subjects, clubs, school sports clubs, volunteer and career activities, free semester activities, and field trips, which were partially restricted to minimize contact among students, will all be operated normally.

Mobile classes using gymnasiums and special classrooms will also be autonomously operated according to subject-specific plans, and remote classes for quarantine purposes will now end and be utilized only to enhance educational effectiveness.

The quarantine system will be operated focusing on personal prevention measures while considering the possibility of a resurgence of new variants. Indoor mask-wearing, temperature checks, installation of partitions in cafeterias, and temporary observation rooms will be maintained, while detailed operational standards will be autonomously decided considering each school's circumstances.

Even if a confirmed case occurs within a class, contact management will focus on high-risk individuals with underlying conditions and symptomatic persons rather than all students. Proactive testing will be conducted once a week until April and will end starting in May.

However, during May (5.1.~5.22.), rapid antigen test kits amounting to 20% of the total number of students and staff will be stockpiled for testing confirmed cases and contacts.

In response to the social normalcy recovery trend, the opening of school facilities will also proceed step-by-step. Outdoor sports facilities such as school playgrounds will be opened by each school after the quarantine authorities announce the lifting of outdoor mask mandates, and indoor sports facilities will also be gradually opened after the lifting of indoor mask mandates by the quarantine authorities.

Efforts will be intensified to support student-tailored educational recovery and the normalization of school curricula. The Office of Education will invest 46 billion KRW this year to implement 52 projects aimed at recovering educational deficits.

Additionally, to strengthen school support, the "Education Recovery Support Group," composed of teachers and education professionals, will be expanded and operated.

Superintendent Jang Hui-guk said, "I thank all members of the Gwangju education family who have devoted themselves to overcoming COVID-19 and restoring normalcy over the past two years," adding, "We will do our best to fully restore normal school life and fill educational gaps while not letting our guard down."

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