Busan Metropolitan Office of Education to Eliminate or Boldly Revise 69 Projects

Reducing School Workload with the Start of In-Person Classes

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education has decided to boldly revise a total of 69 projects to reduce the workload of schools with the start of in-person classes at kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools. Some projects will be completely eliminated, reduced, postponed, or improved.

According to the city education office on the 28th, 32 projects such as the operation of schools linked to the Busan Healthy Student Making ‘GoodSMILE Program’ and the National School Sports Club Festival will be discontinued. The school violence survey, which was conducted twice a year, has been reduced to once in the second half of the year.

Additionally, 24 projects will be operated on a reduced scale, 9 projects scheduled for the first semester will be postponed to the second semester, and 4 projects, including the distribution of best practice collections, will be improved.

To ensure that the operation of curricula and school quarantine at all levels of schools due to COVID-19 is not disrupted, comprehensive school audits will not be conducted in June. Even during audits, for academic and administrative matters related to COVID-19 response, if there is no intentional or gross negligence, the ‘Busan Metropolitan Office of Education Active Administration Exemption System Operation Guidelines’ will be applied to avoid disadvantageous measures.

The city has designated the period until the end of June as the ‘Month of Support for In-Person Classes’ and has decisively eliminated external training, meetings, events, business trips, and other activities unrelated to classes during this time.

Before the full-scale resumption of in-person classes, measures have been established to reduce teachers’ workload, provide personnel and administrative support, resolve difficulties, and promote communication so that schools can focus on classes, life education, and quarantine.

Along with this, to respond to COVID-19, the Busan School Support Service (BSSS) will address teachers’ difficulties related to educational activities and further strengthen communication and cooperation.

Kim Kwang-soo, Director of Educational Innovation at the city education office, said, “To ensure the stable operation of in-person classes, we will closely cooperate with schools to reduce their workload and provide prompt support.”