To bring children to school… America has been vaccinated by teachers

Parents are concerned about’how long can I go to school this year?’ ahead of the new semester in March, which is approaching the 9th. The Ministry of Education has issued a policy to attend kindergarten and elementary school 1st and 2nd graders, but the rest of the grades will continue to focus on online classes this year. In the meantime, voices are gaining strength at home and abroad that the door to closed schools should be opened on the premise of securing school safety. It is pointed out that the loss was greater than what was gained when the school could not properly open the door due to the novel coronavirus infection last year (Corona 19).

My aunt (38, Gwacheon, Gyeonggi), who has a son in 6th grade, was worried about the school’s plans to attend school in March. I was hoping that the government would expand school attendance, but this year, it was only two days a week. He said, “It’s important in the first and second grades, but what if the seniors who are about to go to junior high school do not receive classes properly for the second year?”

Kim Mo (38, Songpa, Seoul), who has a daughter who will be in the third grade of elementary school, also said, “When I saw my child taking online classes last year, I was in trouble.” The day class ended by watching two 30-minute EBS videos, and the task was to solve 10 addition and subtraction problems. The homeroom teacher started real-time interactive classes from September, but that also lasted about 30 minutes. Mr. Kim said, “I spent one year in school, but I would rather go to school this year while thoroughly fighting quarantine.”

Over a year since the school closed to prevent corona 19 infection, voices saying that the side effects are great are bursting. According to the results of the 2020 second semester survey by the Ministry of Education, 68.4% of teachers and 62.8% of parents answered that the education gap has widened. According to the results of a survey of 10,000 teachers, parents, and students by Kang Deuk-gu, the Democratic Party’s office, 57.9% favored the expansion of school, more than twice the opposition (22.2%).

Many parents are concerned about social deficits as they have fewer opportunities to hang out with friends. When the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s Education and Research Information Service asked 3851 elementary school parents about what they were most worried about after Corona 19 last year, sociality (43.6%) ranked first. Basic education (30.5%) and physical strength (15.8%) followed.

An aunt (39, Eunpyeong, Seoul), a parent of a third-year elementary school student, said, “Last year, I haven’t made almost any classmates, so I’m very reluctant to accidentally go to school.” Bae Sang-hoon, a professor of education at Sungkyunkwan University, said, “You cannot develop the skills and literacy you need to learn online at school or peers according to the stage of development of a student.” I advised.

The decline in the quality of education also leads to economic losses. Last year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a report stating that the suspension of school attendance could reduce the global economic growth rate by 1.5 percentage points during this century.

A professor of pediatrics and adolescents who requested anonymity said, “If you go to school in front of you, there is a possibility of infection in the school, but if you close the school, there is much more to be lost.” Said.

There is a growing voice calling for expansion of school attendance abroad. When US President Joe Biden took office on the 20th of last month, he signed an executive order to make the resumption of face-to-face classes a priority, saying, “We can teach children in safe schools.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also recommended the resumption of school, saying, “School should be the last place to close, and if safety is secured, it should be opened first.” CDC said, “Even in situations where there is a high risk of spreading to the community, schools can be opened for face-to-face classes. There are many measures schools can do to reduce the spread of Corona 19.”

The CDC also recommended priority vaccinations for staff. According to the US media’Education Week’, as of the 11th of this month, 28 out of 50 states in the United States administered priority vaccination for teachers. Some give priority to full vaccination, and some give priority to teachers over 50.

In Korea, there are voices demanding priority vaccinations for teachers. “The most active measure to create a safe classroom is early vaccination,” the Korean Federation of Teachers said, and argued that “teachers who encounter hundreds of students every day should be included in the target for vaccination.” In addition, Yoo Yoo-hong, chairman of the National Assembly Education Committee of the Democratic Party, said, “Remote classes cannot be a fundamental alternative.” “Educators should be considered as targets for early vaccination.”

There are many quarantine experts who sympathize with this. Former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Jeong Ki-seok said, “It is relatively more likely to be infected than children, and teachers who meet many people should be vaccinated first.”

Domestic and foreign quarantine experts note that the risk of infection in schools is low as a basis for expanding school. On the 12th, CDC released the school guidelines and said, “According to the data, teaching at school is practically unrelated to community infections.” The European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also released a report in November last year that children are less likely to be infected with Corona 19.

In Korea, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Chung Eun-kyung and researchers at Hallym University have published a study finding that only 2.4% of children and adolescents aged 3-18 years of age who are infected with Corona 19 are infected in school.

Experts point out that schools need to expand health professionals. Kim Woo-joo, professor of infectious medicine at Kodae Guro Hospital, said, “We are focusing only on the supply of masks and thermometers, but the most important problem of shortage of health teachers is closing our eyes.” Said.

Reporters Jeon Min-hee and Nam Gung-min [email protected]