While preparations to reopen schools this month are underway, worried parents are demanding the plan to be further postponed due to lingering concerns over the coronavirus that has infected more than 10,000 here.
In an unprecedented move, elementary, middle and high schools, as well as kindergartens and childcare centres, have remained closed for the past few months as part of precautionary measures against the contagious virus, South Korean News Agency (Yonhap) reported.
The government on Monday announced plans to reopen schools as daily new infections have fallen to single-digit figures over the past few days. Under the phased plan, high school seniors will return to school on May 13, while students in all other grades will go back by June 1.
Some parents have welcomed the announcement, hoping it will make up for a disruption to the academic schedule and a childcare vacuum for younger students, but some have raised concerns over how effectively quarantine measures will be carried out in classrooms.
Those who wrote the petitions are demanding the government postpone the school reopening or exclude days that children are absent from attendance records so that parents can choose between keeping their children at home or sending them to school.
The education ministry attributed its decision on the schedule to childcare burden, a learning gap among students who have guardians to help them and those who don’t, as well as difficulties in remote learning for lower grade students.
