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A high school student in school studies via online lectures on Mar. 31. (Kim Hye-yun, staff reporter)

Kang Min-wook (pseudonym) is a 13-year-old who lives with his grandmother in Seoul’s Guro District. His parents, an international couple, left the home a long time ago. Theirs is a “grandparent-grandchild household,” consisting of one grandparent aged 65 or under and one grandchild aged 18 or under. There is no computer or internet in their home. Min-wook uses a smartphone, but his limited data plan prevents him from viewing videos over long periods of time.

Lee Ji-su (pseudonym), a seven-year-old who is beginning elementary school this year, lives in a multicultural household. Her Vietnamese mother cannot speak Korean well. Her Korean father works until late at night, leaving Ji-su for her grandmother to take care of. Recently, the grandmother visited a children’s center in Seoul’s Dobong District to request counseling. “They say they’re going to do online classes. We don’t know how to turn on the computer or watch online classes,” she explained.

On Mar. 31, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that it is implementing phased-in online classes, beginning on Apr. 9 with third year students in middle and high school. This has raised growing concerns that many children -- including those from low-income families without notebook, desktop, or tablet computers or smart devices such as smartphones, as well those from single-parent or grandparent-grandchild households with no one to assist with online learning -- may end up falling between the cracks of online education.

The severity of this blind spot in education has been sensed acutely by teachers conducting parent surveys on smart device ownership in accordance with MOE policy. One elementary school teacher in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, said, “Out of 900 total students, 50 said they didn’t have a smart device, so I’ve applied with the Office of Education for enough smart devices for 37 students. But the office said there have been a lot of requests, so it’s uncertain whether everyone will get one.”

“Even the smart devices that were requested last year are supposed to come by May or so. The situation is looking grim,” the teacher said.

The South Korean government provides smart devices to schools for education purposes as part of its “wireless infrastructure building effort.” But deliveries have ended up delayed amid an explosive increase in requests recently in response to news that classes are to begin online due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

“We’ve determined that there are around 290,000 students at 50% of the median [household] income or lower by school,” MOE said on Mar. 31.

“Schools will be lending out smart devices. If the school doesn’t have them, they are to be distributed upon application to the office of education,” it added.

Some are suggesting that even with smart devices, disparities in learning rights according to household financial conditions may end up worsening. One elementary school teacher said, “Some of the students’ parents have been complaining of the hardship. During the survey, one parent in a single-parent household asked me, ‘How is a first grader in elementary school supposed to take classes on his own?’”

Another elementary school teacher in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, fretted, “Even when you use Google to look up certain words, there’s content that appears that isn’t safe for children. Without someone’s control, students could end up exposed to adult content and other harmful material.”

The director of a children’s center in Seoul’s Guro District said, “Holding online classes means that parents or grandparents have to take on the management responsibilities that a homeroom teacher should be providing. There’s definitely going to be a greater likelihood that children from vulnerable demographics will get left behind.”

“Some of the parents in disadvantaged demographics aren’t even aware that schools will be holding classes online,” the director said.

According to findings released on Mar. 30 from an “emergency survey on the novel coronavirus response and commencement of classes” by the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, around 58% of the 16,000 teachers in South Korea’s 17 metropolitan cities and provinces agreed with the commencement of online classes, but support was relatively lower among teachers at kindergartens (37.38%) and elementary schools (55.52%), where preparations are more difficult.

By Kwon Ji-dam and Jeon Gwang-joon, staff reporters

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]