[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Geon-ju] The Jeonbuk Office of Education has proactively announced quarantine management guidelines and operational plans to respond to the COVID-19 situation for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) scheduled for December 3 this year.
On the 14th, the provincial education office stated in a briefing room that it has prepared response strategies by crisis situation and test period in advance to prepare for emergencies that may occur before and after the CSAT amid the spread of COVID-19.
The provincial education office presented response plans by dividing the pre-CSAT situation into three stages according to the crisis situation.
Stage 1 is a situation where no confirmed cases have occurred until the day before the CSAT, and the test will be conducted stably according to the pre-prepared test site operation plan.
Stage 2 is a situation where confirmed cases occur among examinees before the test; confirmed cases will take the test at hospital test sites, while close contacts and suspected infected persons will take the test at isolation test sites.
Test sites where confirmed cases occur will be closed, and general examinees who were scheduled to take the test there will be able to take the test at alternative test sites.
Stage 3 is a situation where confirmed cases have occurred in groups among examinees, exceeding the capacity of negative pressure rooms and isolation test sites. In this case, stable CSAT operation is impossible, so the provincial education office said, “Measures at the Ministry of Education level are expected,” and plans to propose to the Ministry of Education and the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation to postpone the CSAT by two weeks.
As a response plan by test period, an emergency contact system with related organizations will be established before the test, and hospital test sites, alternative test sites, and isolation test sites will be secured by test district to prepare for emergencies.
To this end, additional test site supervisors will be appointed, and general test sites will have reserve test rooms to prepare for all possible emergencies. Supervisors who can take the lead in quarantine at each test site will be appointed to be in charge of test site quarantine management.
On the test day, both examinees and test supervisors will wear masks, and the entrance will be unified to conduct temperature checks and other screenings. Examinees showing infection symptoms will be moved to reserve test rooms prepared inside the test site to take the test.
The reserve test rooms will be operated separately according to infection symptoms: examinees with mild symptoms will take the test in Reserve Test Room I, and high-risk examinees will take the test in Reserve Test Room II. Additional test sites and rooms will be secured to prepare for emergencies.
The provincial education office expects that compared to previous years, the number of CSAT test sites this year will increase by 14 to 75, test rooms will increase by 711 to 1,435, and supervisors will increase by 1,098 to 4,660.
This arrangement standard for test rooms is based on 24 examinees per room, and if adjusted to 20 according to Ministry of Education guidelines, it will be readjusted accordingly.
A Jeonbuk Office of Education official said, “On the CSAT test day, to ensure stable securing of supervisors and thorough quarantine management, we are considering school closures for all middle and high schools in the province,” and added, “We plan to prepare a supplementary budget in August considering the CSAT emergency situation.”
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