Gyeongbuk Provincial Office of Education Extends Health Personnel Support to 290 Schools Without Health Teachers

Support for Temporary Health Teacher Salaries in Schools with 34 or More Classes

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] The Gyeongsangbuk-do Office of Education, preparing for the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, announced on the 8th that from next month 3rd until the end of December, it will extend support by providing health personnel (retired health teachers or licensed nurses) to 290 elementary, middle, high, and various schools without health teachers.

The health personnel will be assigned to 125 elementary schools, 126 middle schools, 35 high schools, and 4 various schools. During the first semester starting from March, health personnel assigned to schools without health teachers managed suspected COVID-19 cases, conducted quarantine activities, and performed infectious disease prevention tasks and student health management, resulting in high satisfaction among students and staff.

The Gyeongbuk Office of Education is utilizing a pool of retired health teachers to secure personnel for the extended support and has sent cooperation letters to the Gyeongbuk Nurses Association and 30 nursing colleges in Daegu and Gyeongbuk to request support from licensed nurses.

Additionally, from the second semester, an extra 624 million KRW in wages for temporary health teachers has been provided to 39 large schools (36 elementary, 1 middle, 2 high schools) with 34 or more classes or 850 or more students. Temporary health teachers will work alongside regular health teachers to protect students' health in preparation for a possible second COVID-19 pandemic wave, providing health education for infectious disease prevention, guidance on response methods, early isolation and treatment of symptomatic individuals, and education for students and parents.

Superintendent Lim Jong-sik stated, "By supporting health personnel in schools without health teachers, we will provide customized health education and medical services for each school and actively support preventing the spread of COVID-19 in all schools."