Will face-to-face school learning resume at end of April?

A second grader in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, watches a math lecture on EBS at home. /Yonhap

By Bahk Eun-ji

Attention is on to whether schools can be opened amid the coronavirus pandemic, while the country started the new school year with remote learning last week.

As the number of new daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 has stayed around 50 or less for five consecutive days, many educators, teachers and students expect to see schools resuming onsite classes after having been closed since March 2, when the new school semester was originally scheduled to commence.

The rapid spread of the virus has raised fears of group infections at schools, prompting students and parents to ask for an additional postponement to schools opening their doors again. However, the recent slowdown of new cases gave students and parents a glimmer of hope.

“If the number of new cases of the virus reported was less than 50 (per day) for more than a week, students will be able to attend schools with the online classes happening at the same time,” Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said during her visit to Goejeong High School in Daejeon, March 7.

When the education ministry announced the plan for online opening for elementary, middle and high schools last month, Yoo mentioned the government had considered combining remote classes and classroom lectures after judging comprehensively the situation of the virus spreading.

Yet, the quarantine authorities think it is still too early for students to return to classrooms at the end of April.

“Even after the downturn, more time is needed to ensure a safe environment for students as the possibility of collective outbreaks remains,” Yoon Tae-ho, a senior health ministry official in charge of containment efforts, said during a regular briefing at the Government Complex in Sejong.

The new semester's beginning date will be adjusted depending on the circumstances of each region as the government will decide at the end of next week whether the social distancing period should be extended or if it will transit into what is called a “daily life quarantine system,” which will allow social activities in tandem with quarantine measures.

The quarantine authorities' judgment follows in the wake of related events in Singapore. Schools opened on March 23 but the government reversed the decision on March 25 because of new virus cases discovered at a kindergarten. Now, Singaporean students have been told to stay home until May 4.