By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Students from a selected group of high schools will have to get used to more walking between classes starting from March next year.
They are part of the latest stage in a scheme to test the efficacy of taking classes in rooms designated exclusively to individual subjects.
At present, middle and high school students stay in their homerooms and teachers do the rotating.
But under the new system teachers will remain in their own classrooms and students will move around according to their timetable.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced Wednesday it will receive applications from schools interested in taking part in the scheme and select some 600.
The government will provide 300 billion won ($241 million) to finance the project.
In some schools, students will move to a different class for every subject, while in others the system will be only partial.
The system is similar to that adopted in most developed countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
The government said the new scheme would eventually make each classroom more effective for each subject. It cites the example of English classrooms, which will be equipped with more English materials.
``The new system will gradually offer tailor-made classes according to the academic level of students,'' said Kim Cha-dong, director-general of the ministry.
The successful schools will be announced in early July.
Previously, the government selected 33 schools for a two-year pilot operation of the system in 2007. The results of the trial have yet to be scrutinized.
According to surveys conducted on the system, some teachers and parents raised concerns that it could eventually divide students into superior and inferior classrooms. They claimed this could, in turn, lead to increased private cram school costs for parents who want their children to study in top groups.
Government officials said it would undertake further studies into how best to test and group students according to their academic levels.
They said schools would have to build more restrooms, expand library and other facilities to meet the needs of the new subject-dedicated classrooms.