Tag: schools

I feel so bad for these kids having to deal with remote learning again:

– Schools in the capital area will resume remote learning this week as part of a government campaign aimed at stemming the fast spread of the coronavirus, officials said Sunday.

Under the latest rules, schools in the capital area and overly crowded schools in other parts of the country will roll back fully in-person classes and reintroduce a mix of in-person and virtual classes starting Monday.

Middle and high schools will be able to run at two-thirds capacity, while third- to sixth-grade elementary school classes will be able to run at 75 percent capacity.

Only first- and second-grade elementary school classes will continue to be held fully in-person.

Local education authorities in Seoul, however, adopted tighter rules, forcing elementary schools in the city to further limit in-person classes for third- to sixth-graders to 50 percent capacity, given that first- and second-graders are attending fully in-person classes.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Moon administration is messing with the hagwons, watch out there is going to be some angry ajummas:

Students and parents are protesting the government’s new vaccine pass system, saying it infringes upon adolescents’ right not to get vaccinated.    
   
Starting Monday, Korea’s vaccine pass systemwas expanded to hagwon (cram school) libraries, PC bang (internet cafes), public study rooms, movie theatres, restaurants and cafes — but only for adults using them.    
   
From Feb. 1, 12 to 18-year-olds — people born between the years 2003 and 2009 — will require vaccine passes to enter those places, unless they submit a negative PCR test that was conducted within the previous 48 hours, according to the Central Disaster Management Headquarters’ briefing Friday.    
   
In protest, an 18-year-old student in Daegu filed an online petition on the Blue House website Nov. 26, writing that the regulation is discriminatory against students and their right to an education.   (…..)

“The government has decided to more strongly advise vaccinations for minors because the situation has grown that much more dangerous over the past month,” said Son Young-rae, senior epidemiological strategist at the Central Disaster Management Headquarters.  
   
“As the necessity grew for more people to be vaccinated, we have decided to expand the vaccine pass system to include individuals from ages 12 to 18.”  
   
Son added that the infection rate for Covid among minors surpassed that for adults over the last four weeks.  
   
According to the Central Disaster Management Headquarters, 99.7 out of every 100,000 minors were infected from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1, compared to 76.9 out of every 100,000 adults.    
   
Yet, teens and their parents say that requiring a vaccine pass in places like hagwon, which are considered essential facilities for nearly all middle and high school students in Korea, is unfair.    
   
“Enforcing a vaccine pass system in hagwon is a violation of the children’s right to learn,” said Ms. Lee, 47, a mother of two in Seongbuk District, central Seoul.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Besides some schools in the Seoul area the vast majority of South Korea’s schools are now open:

The final batch of students returned to school Monday, completing a three-week phased reopening of schools as Korea steps into the post-Covid-19 age.  
   
Yet even as fifth, sixth and seventh graders finally began their school year after a three-month delay, anxiety loomed in many parts of the Seoul metropolitan area, where several clusters of coronavirus infections have popped up lately.  
   
The Ministry of Education announced that 517 schools remained closed Monday, almost all in Seoul, Incheon or Gyeonggi, due to fear of infections. The closed schools account for about 2.5 percent of 20,902 nationwide schools. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It doesn’t appear the Itaewon cluster infection is going to delay the reopening of Korean schools any more:

The education and health authorities will forge ahead with their plan to reopen schools for high school seniors next week, despite a recent spike in COVID-19 infections involving teachers and students, officials said Friday. 

High school seniors are expected to return to school May 20, while those in other grades will return to school gradually over the following weeks.

“The Ministry of Education (MOE) is expected to proceed with its plan to reopen schools for high school seniors next week. The health authorities have been conducting strict disinfection of school facilities in preparation for their return,” said Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip in a regular briefing at the Government Complex in Sejong. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the reopening of schools will likely be closely watched by the Trump administration. If South Korea can successfully do this, the Trump administration can point to this as a success story and that U.S. schools should reopen in the Fall as well.

These cluster infections are likely going to keep happening from time to time, so does that mean the schools will be closed each time? If so why bother opening them?:

South Korea on Monday announced plans to reopen schools a week later than scheduled after dozens of infections coming from clubs in the city’s multicultural neighborhood of Itaewon triggered concerns over a bigger outbreak.

“The education ministry, through consultation with health authorities, postponed school reopening for high school seniors to guarantee the safety of students. The reopening for other grades will also be postponed by a week,” Vice Education Minister Park Baeg-beom said in a press briefing.

Under the revised schedule, high school seniors will return to school on May 20, followed by younger students who will return to school in steps concluding on June 8, according to the education ministry.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Students at an elementary school in Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, wear masks during class as a nearby factory leaked harmful gas on April 13, 2018. (Yonhap)

Oh, Korea… 'Feces Elementary School' to change name after 55 years https://t.co/7u5cyhZe5S

— KingSejong (@KingSejong) August 18, 2017

This is a really horrible story about a boy trapped in a locked bus in Gwangju:

Choi was 5 years old when he was left behind on a school bus on July 29 last year. The driver neglected to check whether any students were aboard and his teacher forgot to take roll.

For seven and a half hours, Choi was alone, barely able to breathe in the scorching heat. Temperatures hit more than 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in Gwangju, where he lived, and by the time police found him, his body temperature hovered around 42 degrees. He was unconscious.

Choi now lies on a hospital bed in Chonnam National University Hospital, unmoving except to occasionally cough. In the year since, he has yet to regain consciousness.

Choi is one of a number of similar cases. In January, a 3-year-old was left on her kindergarten bus for more than an hour in Daegu after coming back from a field trip. In February, a 6-year-old boy was left for 40 minutes on a school bus in Gwangyang, South Jeolla. The child was rescued after a passerby called police. In May, a 5-year-old in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, was abandoned for two and a half hours.

Choi’s mother spends day and night by his side, waiting for her son to wake up. The hospital fees are being covered by the bus operator and the Gwangju School Safety and Insurance Association.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but the bus driver and the teacher were both given a few months in jail for not accounting for all the students getting off the bus.