South Korea Will Reopen Schools Soon

Photo illustration (Emile Victor / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - With the implementation of a strict physical distancing policy, the number of COVID-19 transmission in South Korea has also decreased. The government took this opportunity to allow high schools to reopen on Wednesday, May 20.

In response to this, hundreds of thousands of high school students who have equipped themselves wearing masks have started to enthusiastically welcome the first day back to school. Some of them are lined up for temperature checks, and some are preparing to enter the classroom by first cleaning their hands with a hand sanitizer.

As reported by Reuters, the teachers did not remain silent. They enthusiastically joined in welcoming the students by greeting and the occasional elbow greetings. Even so, the teachers reminded students to still apply physical distancing rules.

Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Cho Hee-yeon said the school was looking forward to seeing this momentum happen. "The school has been anxiously waiting for all of you students for the past three months. From now on, we are entering an important phase in which we need to be successful in COVID-19 research and prevention."

To ensure safety, the school has asked both students and teachers to keep wearing masks during teaching and learning activities, carry out regular disinfection, open windows to let air flow in, and keep tables one meter apart.

In fact, students are also given the obligation to clean their desks. Even so, if there are students or teachers who test positive for COVID-19, all schools will switch to online classes until it is considered safe for students to return.

Therefore, the South Korean Ministry of Education did not want to be careless by opening existing schools directly. Instead, it has a policy to open schools on a sustained basis, starting from SMA, followed by Elementary School (SD) and Junior High School (SMP) on June 1.

So far South Korea has confirmed 11,110 cases of COVID-19 transmission. Among them, there were 263 cases died.