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| A playground of an elementary school in Incheon, west of Seoul, Thursday, remains empty after the Ministry of Education suspended classes at some of the city's schools following an infection cluster at a logistics center in the nearby city of Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. Yonhap |
By Bahk Eun-ji
Parents and teachers urged the government Thursday to postpone reopening of schools as more and more students are confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus inside and outside of schools.
From the first day of the second phase of school reopenings, Wednesday, when kindergarteners, first and second graders of elementary school, middle school seniors and second-year high school students returned to their classrooms, 561 kindergartens and schools postponed reopening due to the high risk of community infection.
According to data from the Ministry of Education, 838 schools among the total 20,902 nationwide that were supposed to resume their classes on the same day remained closed in cities including Seoul, Bucheon in Gyeonggi Province and Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province, as of 10 a.m., Thursday. In Bucheon, 251 schools were closed, while 117 in Seoul and 182 in Gumi postponed their reopening.
In Seoul, a high school senior who started to attend class last week tested positive for the virus, and his school and nearby ones as well as an elementary school his younger brother is attending were also closed down.
In regard to the series of infections among students, parents are increasingly concerned about their children's safety in classrooms.
"I have to see the virus situation for today, but I think my wife and I should not let my daughter go to school until the recent rise in local transmissions shows signs of abating. Schools can be a hotbed for the virus as many people are in contact with each other," said Kim Sang-yong, 39, an office worker and a father of an elementary student in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
Teachers' groups also voiced their concerns about children returning to the classrooms.
"Although the education ministry postponed the reopening date for the high school seniors from May 13 to 20, the situation is getting even worse. There are no persuasive grounds to push ahead with the reopening plan considering the current virus situation," said Jung Hyun-jin, a spokesperson of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union.
Shin Hyun-wook, head of policy division of the Korea Federation of Teachers' Organization, said, "We believe and follow the decision of the quarantine authorities because they seem to be able to control it, but we need to find alternatives for the students if necessary based on the trend of confirmed cases."
He said even among teachers, there have been various suggestions including running online classes for the entire first semester.
Na Myung-joo, chairman of the National Association of Parents for True Education, said, "It is difficult to say that on-site classes are better than online ones because group classes, arts and physical education activities, and discussion classes are rarely conducted as school quarantine measures have been greatly strengthened."
He added, "Except for the lower grades of elementary schools and kindergarteners who are in urgent need of emergency care services, and high school seniors ahead of the national college entrance exam, it will be safe for the rest of the students to conduct remote classes for the time being."
