Decision on online classes hits double-income families

A teacher at an elementary school in Nowon District, northern Seoul, holds a remote physical education class, Monday. Yonhap

By Lee Hyo-jin

Working parents are facing a struggle with childcare issues as all kindergartens and schools in Seoul and its surrounding area will be closed from Tuesday until at least the end of the year, offering only online classes, due to the ongoing spike in COVID-19 cases.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education ordered all kindergartens and elementary schools in its jurisdiction to switch entirely to remote learning from Dec.15 until Dec. 31 as a preemptive measure against the coronavirus pandemic. Middle and high schools already switched to online-only classes from Dec. 7.

The stringent measure includes even small schools with fewer than 300 students.

As education offices in Gyeonggi Province and Incheon have decided to follow suit, around 7,700 schools, or approximately 37 percent of the total nationwide, are expected to cease face-to-face classes.

Although the measure is aimed at ensuring the safety of students, double-income families who have run out of annual leave days and family care leave days are left with few options for suitable childcare.

An office worker surnamed Kim who is a mother of a 12-year-old daughter in Mapo District, Seoul, said, “My daughter will be left alone at home all day and have to eat lunch on her own. I can't get help from my mother every day since she lives far away.” Kim added that she is considering taking leave from work as working from home is not allowed at her place of employment.

Another office worker in her 40s surnamed Park living in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, said that she has no choice but to enroll her two sons in a government-provided childcare despite infection risks. The program is offered to kindergarteners and younger elementary students who are in need of care during the day.

While the official name of the program in Korean means “Emergency care classroom” the childcare centers cannot offer actual classes to those attending under the premise that it would give them an unfair advantage over children taking remote classes.

“The best thing would be to keep them at home, but as both my husband and I can't work from home, we don't have any other options,” Park said. “I'm very worried that infections might occur there with some 20 students sitting together in one classroom for the whole day.”

Online communities for mothers are flooded with posts and comments expressing similar concerns.

“I feel sorry about sending my children to the childcare center. But my husband and I can't take care of them at home until the year-end even if we use all the leave we have left,” wrote a member of moms-holic, one of the largest internet communities for mothers.

Another member called for better measures to relieve the childcare burden saying, “Preemptive action is not only needed for schools, but also for families with working parents. They should include measures such as making working from home mandatory for at least one parent.”

Concern is expected to continue as it is uncertain that kindergartens and schools in the metropolitan area will be able to reopen in January as this will depend on the virus situation at the time. Even if they reopen, winter break will soon follow.

Meanwhile, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 718 daily new coronavirus cases for Sunday, including 682 local infections, bringing the total caseload to 43,484.