Held an Online Emergency Meeting with Medical School Deans to Discuss Countermeasures
On the 15th, anatomy textbooks were placed in an empty classroom at Hallym University College of Medicine in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. [Image source=Yonhap News]
As medical students protested the government's plan to increase the quota for medical schools by showing collective actions such as strike leaves, the Ministry of Education formed a task force and began responding.
On the 16th, the Ministry of Education announced, "To quickly grasp and respond to the situation regarding the collective actions of medical school students, we have established the 'National University Hospital and Medical School Situation Task Force' within the Ministry and will operate an emergency communication system with 40 medical schools nationwide starting today to continuously monitor student trends and measures at each university."
The day before, right after fourth-year students at Hallym University College of Medicine announced their strike leave plan through social networking services (SNS), the Ministry sent official letters to medical schools nationwide requesting submission of data on the leave status of their students by the 29th.
However, as the situation rapidly escalated with representatives of medical schools holding an emergency meeting that evening and deciding to submit strike leave plans on the 20th, it is interpreted that the task force began inspections accordingly.
On the same day in the afternoon, the Ministry of Education held an online emergency meeting chaired by Vice Minister Oh Seok-hwan with deans of academic affairs from medical schools, requesting active cooperation to protect students' right to learn and ensure normal academic operations in response to the medical students' collective actions.
The Ministry also urged universities to establish response organizations such as task forces to ensure close cooperation.
They emphasized that if students apply for leave, academic affairs should strictly manage the process by properly following requirements and procedures to prevent approval of strike leaves.
The deans of academic affairs who participated in the meeting stressed their support for normal academic operations and announced a firm stance to respond strictly to prevent any infringement on students' right to learn due to strike leaves.
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