67% of Metropolitan Area Middle Schools Attend In-Person... 21% Increase Due to School Density Adjustment

On the 14th, school density expanded to 2/3, increasing attendance rates
Vocational high schools with full attendance rose by 27.7%p to 80%
Plan to announce phased implementation of full second semester attendance within this month

As the school density standard was raised from one-third to two-thirds, middle school students in the metropolitan area have increased attendance, and vocational high school students can now attend school every day. On the 14th, students were attending school at Jangpyeong Middle School in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul. 2021.06.14 Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] As the Ministry of Education relaxed the school density criteria, the attendance rate of middle school students in the Seoul metropolitan area increased by more than 20%.

According to the Ministry of Education's data on the 15th, the attendance rate of middle school students in the metropolitan area was 67.5% the previous day, an increase of 21.2 percentage points compared to the average from March to May (46.3%).

Among vocational high schools that switched to full attendance, 463 out of 583 schools (79.4%) were reported to have implemented full attendance. This is an increase of 161 schools (27.7%) compared to 302 schools before the density adjustment on the 11th.

The Ministry of Education stated, "Following this expansion of attendance, we plan to announce a 'step-by-step implementation plan for full attendance of all students in the second semester' in June."

From the 14th, the Ministry of Education adjusted the school density criteria under social distancing level 2 from one-third to two-thirds. Since the start of the school year in March, first and second graders in elementary school and third-year high school students were exempted from the school density calculation criteria, which increased attendance days for other grades, but middle school students in the metropolitan area still had significantly fewer attendance days. Jeonnam started full attendance from last week, Chungbuk from the 21st, and Gangwon region will begin full attendance from next month.