Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education, All Schools to Resume Normal Attendance for New Semester

Transition of School Quarantine System, Support for Rapid Antigen Test Kits

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] The Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education plans to operate the ‘2022 New Semester Curriculum’ flexibly according to the principle of full school attendance, adapting to each school's situation.

On the 17th, Superintendent Jang Seok-woong held a non-face-to-face press briefing in the main conference room of the office and announced the ‘Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education Omicron (COVID-19) Response Plan for the 1st Semester of 2022 Academic Year on Quarantine and Academic Operations.’

According to this plan, Jeonnam Office of Education will switch to a ‘school quarantine system’ where each school conducts its own contact tracing and diagnostic testing following the guidelines of the quarantine authorities. To support this, an ‘Emergency Response Team’ will be formed and operated at the Education Support Office. In particular, two on-site mobile PCR testing stations and five mobile specimen collection teams will be utilized to prevent additional infections within schools.

Additionally, 300,000 testing devices for rapid antigen tests in emergencies and 2 million testing devices needed for preemptive testing of students and staff at home will be secured and distributed using the office’s own budget.

Following the government’s transition in the quarantine system, students will be actively encouraged to perform rapid antigen tests twice a week at home, and staff once a week. Only those who test negative will attend school, and those who test positive will be advised not to attend school and to undergo PCR testing.

If suspected symptoms occur after attending school, self-testing will be conducted in a temporary observation room, and if positive, students and staff will be allowed to receive PCR testing with a school principal’s opinion letter. To increase vaccination rates among students and staff, supplementary medical expenses will be provided to youths under 18 who have experienced severe adverse reactions to vaccination but have not received compensation from the government.

To establish a thorough quarantine network in schools, 3.6 billion KRW has been secured for quarantine supplies. Following the deployment of about 2,500 quarantine volunteers last semester, a budget of 10.5 billion KRW has been secured this year to utilize about 2,800 volunteers. Additionally, support personnel for health teachers will be assigned.

Academic operations for the 1st semester of 2022 will adhere to the principle of ‘full school attendance’ as much as possible but will be flexibly operated by region and school depending on the COVID-19 infection situation. The types of academic operations are divided into normal educational activities, full attendance with restricted educational activities, partial attendance with partial remote classes, and full remote classes, as proposed by the Ministry of Education.

The criteria for switching academic operations at the school level are a 3% rate of newly confirmed students and a 15% rate of students suspended from attendance, but proactive measures can be taken depending on the school situation.

However, kindergartens, 1st and 2nd grades of elementary schools, special schools, small rural schools with fewer than 60 students, and after-school care classrooms are to adhere to the principle of maximum attendance. Full remote classes for all students will be carefully decided in consultation with the Education Support Office.

Superintendent Jang Seok-woong said, “Parental cooperation is essential to maintain school attendance. Please confirm a negative result from the rapid antigen test kit at home before sending children to school,” and added, “We ask for active cooperation, thinking of it as protecting children’s safety and uninterrupted learning.”