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Students staying at the dormitory of Daegu Agricultural Meister High School head home just a day after returning to classes following the COVID-19 diagnosis of a fellow student on May 21. (Yonhap News)

A third-year high school student in Daegu was confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19 on May 21, the second day after high school seniors returned to school throughout South Korea. The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that even schools without any confirmed cases could be closed based on prior discussions, depending on the risk of community transmission. While some have continued to call for postponement of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT, also known as the “Suneung”), the MOE dismissed that possibility, asserting that there had been “no change to the schedule or principles concerning the CSAT.”

In an announcement on May 21, the city of Daegu said, “A male high school senior living in a dormitory at Daegu Agricultural Meister High School in the Suseong District tested positive for the CVODI-19.” The result emerged after the school had coronavirus tests performed on the evening of May 19 for all students living in dormitories. The Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education and Daegu Agricultural Meister High School had the student in question admitted to the hospital and closed the campus for two days. All 111 third-year students and 94 faculty members at the school underwent coronavirus testing and were ordered into isolation at their dormitory or home. Classes are to take place remotely for the time being.

With a student testing positive for the second straight day after schools reopened, education authorities said that the resumption of on-campus classes could be suspended contingent on “prior discussions.” Speaking at a briefing that day after a meeting of the preparation team for reopening schools, Vice Education Minister Park Baeg-beom said, “As a rule, on-campus classes are only suspended in cases where there has been a person diagnosed at a school.” At the same time, he added, “The office of education, Ministry of Education, and disease control authorities have agreed to hold prior discussions at all times when there are areas for concern.” His message suggests that even schools without confirmed cases may be shut down based on prior discussions if a special situation associated with the risk of the disease spreading is judged to be present.

The policy approach emerged after 75 high schools decided to suspend on-campus classes the day before, including 66 in Incheon and nine in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. Anseong in particular moved to suspend all classes in the region on the grounds contact tracing on an adult patient diagnosed outside the school had not been completed. Some observers characterized this approach as “excessive” compared with school disease prevention guidelines, which only state that on-campus classes are only to be suspended where a patient has been diagnosed within a school. In response, Park said, “We respect the decisions of the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education and Anseong City Office of Education.”

Commenting on the move by some Seoul-area elementary schools to postpone their resumption of on-campus classes, he said, “This will require discussions and an evaluation as to how urgent the situation is.”

With students testing positive for two straight days, some have reiterated their calls for postponing the CSAT. But Park insisted, “There has been no change to the schedule or principles concerning the CSAT.” Regarding Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hae’s recent remarks in a meeting with student parents that she would “ensure that third-year high schools are not at a disadvantage compared to students who are taking the test a second time,” Park explained, “She was saying that universities are aware of the difference, and that she understood they would be taking it into account.” He also said that the National United Achievement Test administered by the Gyeonggido Office of Education -- which high school students in Incheon took online after schools were closed -- is “not included as part of a student’s record, but is merely intended to gauge their standing and scores.”

“I don’t see there being any particular issue of fairness [associated with the test being taken online],” he said.

Of the 2,363 high schools nationwide, a total of 86 did not hold on-campus classes on the first day, including those in Incheon and Anseong. The number includes some schools that did not open for reasons such as having been newly built. A total of 21,291 high school seniors did not attend classes, with 115 of them currently in self-isolation according to public health authorities’ guidelines. Another 2,099 did not attend after self-diagnosing with health issues, while 1,198 were absent because of extracurricular activities and 737 were sent home from their schools after temperature checks and other measures. In all, 1,257 third-year high school students were tested for the virus.

Meanwhile, the MOE announced plans to continue an epidemiological investigation and administered coronavirus testing to all students at schools where patients are diagnosed. It also said it plans to set up a “psychological support team” of psychiatrists to provide emergency psychological counseling to students at schools where coronavirus cases emerge. It further announced plans to pursue an amendment to the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act adding metropolitan and provincial education superintendents to the Minister of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and local government heads as agents able to issue “operational restriction orders,” as well as an amendment to the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Private Teaching Institutes permitting operational suspensions and other sanctions in cases where disease is transmitted within after-school academies due to disease prevention guideline violations.

By Choi Won-hyung, staff reporter, and Koo Dae-sun, Daegu correspondent

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