GOVT'S PLAN ON IN-PERSON CLASSES

[Anchor Lead]

As universities continue to stick to online classes, education authorities remain unchanged in the plan to fully resume in-person classes at elementary, middle and high schools. The government is expected to lay out a detailed plan by the second week of August but whether the COVID-19 situation stabilizes will be a factor. The government will also invest 800 billion won to address concerns of pandemic-induced learning loss and also spend 3 trillion won by 2024 to tackle overcrowded classrooms.

[Pkg]

Seoul National University has decided to hold online classes for the first month of the fall semester. Initially, it was set to resume face to face teaching from the start of the new semester but this has been delayed due to the fourth wave of the outbreak. Chung-Ang and Dongguk Universities will also continue the online format up until the mid-terms.

[Soundbite] Yoon Jun-gu(Public relations, Chung-Ang Univ.) : "Our timetable has considered the virus situation which is still not being contained."

The number of infections among students nationwide has spiked from the 18-hundred range last month to over 32-hundred this month. But as for elementary, middle and high schools, authorities are determined to have students fully back in their classrooms from the fall semester as scheduled. However as allowing in-person classes is linked to the social distancing level, whether case numbers will come down in the virus situation remains a factor.

[Soundbite] Yoo Eun-hae(Education Minister) : "We will comprehensively gather opinions on COVID-19 conditions and future predictions and announce details on the fall semester academic calendar by the 2nd week of August."

Meanwhile the government will invest 800 billion won through next year to overcome learning loss caused by the protracted pandemic. Small-scale customized classes will be offered to some 1.8 million students in need of learning assistance. Tuition will be free. Also, three trillion won will be injected to thin out overcrowded classrooms that have 28 or more students by 2024. The first-phase plan next year will tackle 11-hundred schools. But teachers groups say that it is insufficient considering the ever growing risk of infections.

[Soundbite] Jeong So-yeong(Korean Teachers & Education Workers Union) : "A classroom being 66㎡ large, even with 27 students, it’s difficult to maintain a 1m distance."

Other criticism involves lack of measures to increase faculty members as the number of classes will rise with class sizes growing smaller.