Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education, Joint Inspection of 'Exam Academy Dense Areas' with Related Organizations

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education has launched a joint inspection of exam preparation academies in collaboration with Gwangju Metropolitan City, Dong-gu District, and the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency.

According to the Gwangju Office of Education on the 12th, the inspection team was composed of 60 members in 10 groups and conducted a two-day inspection starting from the 11th, focusing on academies concentrated in exam preparation academy districts.

In response to the elevation of social distancing to level 2 and the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in the local community, the Office of Education, together with Gwangju City, formed a metropolitan and basic academy quarantine response team to establish a cooperative system for academy quarantine guidance, inspection, and status management for academies designated as high-risk facilities.

In particular, during the joint inspection over the weekend, they recommended refraining from operating facilities in accordance with administrative measures restricting gatherings at academies.

They completed inspections of a total of 158 locations in the exam preparation academy districts around Gwangju Exam Preparation Academy, where confirmed cases have recently been spreading, during the weekend period, and immediately took corrective actions on-site for academies violating quarantine rules.

The core quarantine rules include managing visitor logs (using electronic visitor logs or maintaining handwritten logs), checking visitors' symptoms and restricting entry of symptomatic individuals, appointing quarantine managers, wearing masks, maintaining a 2-meter (at least 1 meter) distance between users inside the facility, and ensuring drivers wear masks and disinfect vehicles before and after operation when operating shared vehicles.

Superintendent Jang Hwikuk stated, “To prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the local community, active participation from academy officials is necessary during the social distancing period regarding closures and operational restrictions,” and added, “Our Office of Education will continue to focus its efforts on preventing and controlling the spread of COVID-19 for the safety of students and citizens.”

Meanwhile, the Gwangju Office of Education has formed an academy quarantine response team centered on the East and West Education Support Offices and has conducted quarantine inspections targeting a total of 4,744 academies so far.