While the Ministry of Education announced its policy to expand school attendance even in the 3rd and 4th stages of social distancing, parents’ concerns about school quarantine continued in an online forum held on the 11th.
On the same day, the Ministry of Education opened an online forum for quarantine experts related to the promotion of full school attendance in the second semester with Yoo Eun-hye, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, in the presence of the video conference program ZOOM, and broadcast it on the Ministry of Education TV YouTube channel in real time.
At this event, 13 parents from the Parent Policy Monitoring Group were present along with infectious disease experts including Choi Eun-hwa, a professor of pediatrics at Seoul National University, and Jeong Jae-hoon, a professor of preventive medicine at Gachon University.
Earlier, from the 6th of next month, the Ministry of Education announced a policy to expand school attendance in the second semester, stating that in the third stage of distancing, in the fourth stage, less than two-thirds of elementary and middle schools and all high schools can attend. Deputy Prime Minister Yu said, “The Ministry of Education and the Office of Education have chosen an active method without shrinking from the corona situation that may be longer than expected.
In the question-and-answer sequence for parents, questions about vaccinations for infants and young adults and school quarantine were followed in relation to the promotion of full school attendance in the second semester. When asked about the vaccination of children under the age of 18, Professor Choi said, “Currently, Pfizer is the only vaccine that has been approved for vaccination up to the age of 12 in Korea. ” he replied. However, he added that discussion is needed on setting the vaccination priorities.
One parent who said that he had a child in his second year of high school said, “The child didn’t even have a proper entrance ceremony, but I was happy to announce that he was going to school.” Professor Jung said, “Today, the number of new confirmed cases exceeds 2,000 and the delta-type mutant virus is prevalent. We have to prepare thoroughly at school,” he said.
As quarantine in schools has become more important, inquiries about how to solve overcrowded classes have also been posted as real-time questions on YouTube. In response, the Ministry of Education said that it is continuing the work of reducing the number of students to 28, and that it is considering using modular classrooms from the second semester and, if possible, expanding classrooms. He also explained that he would continue efforts to relieve overcrowded classes by investing 1 trillion won a year over three years.
By Choi Seung-hee, staff reporter shchoi@kookje.co.kr
