Prime Minister Jeong Holds Nationwide Meeting with Provincial Education Chiefs... Majority "Negative on April 6 School Opening"

Reviewing 'Online School Opening' Plan... Final Decision on 30-31st

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Kwang-ho] Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun gathered opinions from provincial and metropolitan superintendents of education on April 28 regarding whether to proceed with the scheduled school reopening on April 6, and it is reported that the majority expressed negative views.

On the same day, Prime Minister Chung held a meeting with the superintendents at the Government Seoul Office to listen to their opinions on the April 6 reopening issue and discuss countermeasures.

The meeting was arranged ahead of the government's final decision on whether to proceed with the school reopening on April 6 as planned, after it had been postponed three times due to the COVID-19 outbreak on March 30-31.

The superintendents from Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon attended the meeting in person at the Seoul Office, while the others participated via video conference. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye, Vice Minister of Education Park Baek-beom, and Deputy Director Kwon Jun-wook of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters also joined.

Prime Minister Chung stated, "For the reopening to take place under the principle that students' health and safety are the top priority, three conditions must be met: a controllable level of infection risk, consensus among parents, local communities, and the education sector, and the school's quarantine system and resources." He added, "The government will strive to clearly suppress the spread of COVID-19 through high-intensity social distancing before the scheduled reopening date."

According to multiple government officials, except for two or three regions where the COVID-19 situation is not severe, most provincial and metropolitan superintendents expressed significant concerns and opposition to the 'school reopening' on April 6.

Although the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has decreased, sporadic community infections continue to occur, and the risk of overseas inflow remains high. Therefore, there are concerns about group infections if students return to school all at once as planned.

With daily confirmed cases hovering around 100 and the infectious disease alert level maintained at 'serious,' the general consensus among attendees was that reopening schools for in-person attendance is premature.

Prime Minister Chung also mentioned at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting held before the discussion, "It is true that there are still many concerns about the April 6 reopening."

Additionally, the meeting focused on the necessity of further postponing the reopening and discussed the alternative of online school opening.

Various opinions were reportedly presented regarding the timing and scope of online reopening by grade level and the establishment of human and material infrastructure for online classes.