Korea eases Covid guidelines for schools

Home > National > Social Affairs

print dictionary print

Korea eases Covid guidelines for schools

Vice Minister of Education Jang Sang-yoon explains the new school guidelines for disease prevention at Seoul Government Complex on Friday morning. [NEWS1]

Vice Minister of Education Jang Sang-yoon explains the new school guidelines for disease prevention at Seoul Government Complex on Friday morning. [NEWS1]

 
Schools will no longer be required to install partitions nor run daily temperature checks.
 
The Education Ministry announced Friday updated guidelines for disease prevention at schools.
 
The relaxed guidelines will go into effect from March 2.
 
From the coming spring semester, students and faculty will no longer be advised to upload their daily health status to a mobile self-diagnosis application.
 
Only students with symptoms such as fever or cough, or who have a family member waiting on a PCR test result, will be advised to upload their health status.
 
Students who alert the application of symptoms or risk factors will be granted an excused absence if they bring reference documents on the day they return.
 
Daily temperature checks are no longer required, though schools may conduct temperature checks at their discretion.
 
Schools are also no longer required to set up partitions in cafeterias and dormitories.
 
Windows were previously supposed to be open at all times for ventilation.
 
Now they are to be opened only three times a day, for more than 10 minutes each.
 
However, cafeteria windows are to remain open during meal hours.
 
Basic disease prevention measures such as daily sterilization will stay in place.
 
The Education Ministry plans to run a two-week preparation period to inspect schools' Covid-19 protocols.
 
The relaxed guidelines notwithstanding, masks will continue to be a must-have school supply despite the lifting of the indoor mask mandate on Jan. 30.
 
While students and teachers will no longer be required to wear masks during classes, the government strongly recommends mask wearing in all indoor spaces that cannot be properly ventilated.
 
It also advises students and faculty to wear masks when there's a risk of droplet infection, like during chorus classes or during the singing of the national anthem.
 
"We now need a swift recovery in educational activity with negative effects mounting on students over the last three years of Covid-19, including lower social skills, impaired basic academic skills and rising depression," Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said.
 
"The ministry will work with city and provincial offices of education to support the creation of an environment where young students can learn and grow in a safer space."

BY LEE HOO-YEON [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)