Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Universities pressed to stop onsite classes
A notice banning students who recently visited clubs in Itaewon, Seoul, from attending classes is posted on the entrance of a building at Sogang University, Tuesday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
An increasing number of university students are calling on their schools to stop offering onsite classes for the spring semester amid growing fears of a possible second wave of COVID-19 cases as the result of a superspreader's visit to nightclubs in Itaewon, according to education officials Tuesday.
Korea University began onsite classes on the condition that both online and onsite classes are combined from Monday. Small classes with fewer than 30 students have been given approval to resume face-to-face lectures if students agree to abide by social distancing measures.
An official of Korea University said the school is closely monitoring the virus situation at the moment.
“Currently, face-to-face lectures are only carried out for classes requiring experimental projects and practical training. The decision to change the current policy will be under discussion depending on the situation with the virus,” a Korea University official said.
Many students showed concern over the universities' moves to begin onsite classes, as a new wave of cases were confirmed in relation to infections at bars and clubs in Itaewon. Some students insist that there is a high possibility of the highly contagious virus spreading on university campuses because the majority of newly confirmed patients linked with the Itaewon clubs are in their 20s.
Uhm Jhoo-yung, a freshman at Korea University who just arrived in Seoul from South Chungcheong Province on Sunday, said her parents and friends in her hometown are worried about her safety.
“My parents were relieved when the virus showed no new infections last week, but the situation suddenly worsened. But it is not easy to go back to my hometown soon since I already came here,” Uhm said.
She said she will discuss what to do with her parents when the school decides whether to resume onsite lectures or not.
The student council of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS), which had also allowed limited face-to-face cases for lectures with fewer than 30 students from Monday, urged the school to switch all onsite classes to online ones.
“As the education ministry postponed the school reopening schedule by one more week to prevent the virus from spreading, university officials also have to decide to change the plan for face-to-face classes for students' safety,” the HUFS student council said in a statement.
In response to concerns from students and parents, some schools decided to continue remote learning although they initially planned to reopen classrooms.
Kookmin University announced Tuesday that it has decided to continue online lectures for some subjects despite plans to resume in-person classes this Wednesday. The university initially tried to proceed with the reopening with the consent of students for some subjects as the number of new cases had stabilized.
“We pushed ahead for the onsite classes that require experiments and practical evaluation, but the decision to change the plan was inevitable due to the current situation in which the virus is apparently spreading again,” a Kookmin University official said.
According to a survey conducted by the Korean Association of Private University Presidents, 145 public and private universities, or 75 percent, said they plan to continue online lectures for the rest of the semester. More than 70 universities have already decided to continue remote learning until the end of the semester, while another 74 decided to do so until the pandemic is over.