The first day of school is a week away, but the government is facing deepening concerns as the COVID-19 outbreak refuses to be contained. More and more parents and teacher groups are demanding further postponement of the first day of school.

On March 9, a petition titled, “Postpone the First Day of School (to April) and Raise the Class Suspension Level to Level 3” was posted on the Cheong Wa Dae national petition website, and as of March 15, over 90,000 people have expressed their support. The Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations said, “We need to consider that schools, where young students spend the whole day together sharing meals, are more vulnerable to infectious diseases,” and argued, “We think it is inevitable to (further) postpone the first day of school.”

The number of such requests is surging in Daegu, where the most number of COVID-19 patients were confirmed. The Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education said they received endless complaints from parents claiming they would not send their children to school even if school started, because the virus could spread among the students if school started too early.

In a press briefing this day, Kwon Jun-wook, deputy director of the Central Quarantine Headquarters said, “Even if there is little possibility of children and teenagers catching the virus and developing severe symptoms, they can act as a ‘silent infection group’ because of that.” He also said, “When we look at the spread of influenza, it begins with children, then moves onto the family and eventually to society.” He said, “What is more important than when school starts is getting schools prepared to execute all basic principles of thorough quarantine, such as checking for fevers and changing existing class styles, which teaches students in a crowded environment.”

Park Neung-hoo (minister of health and welfare), first assistant director of the Central Accident and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said, “We have not released any special quarantine guidelines (to the schools), because the government has yet to decide when to start school,” and added, “We are preparing guidelines according to the characteristics of each school, since each school (primary, middle, and high school) has different features.”

If the first day of school is further delayed, changes to the annual school calendar, such as the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) will be inevitable.

The Ministry of Education announced, “We are collecting comprehensive opinions from health authorities, infectious disease experts, and education sites” and added, “We will make and announce a final decision this week.”