A teacher conducts an online class from an empty classroom of Yongsan Elementary School in Seoul, Thursday, as Korea begins the new school year for freshmen and sophomores in secondary schools and fourth to sixth graders in elementary schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Yonhap



By Bahk Eun-ji



More than 3.1 million elementary, middle and high school students nationwide began the spring semester online, Thursday, joining about 800,000 others who have been taking online classes since April 9, according to the Ministry of Education.



Fourth to sixth graders in elementary schools as well as freshmen and sophomores at middle and high schools were able to meet their teachers online, after seniors at secondary schools who had already begun the semester last week.



Fifth graders at Yongsan Elementary School began their first class with their homeroom teacher Song Mi-kyeong, using a combination of the online class platform of the Education Broadcasting System (EBS), and Zoom, a video conferencing platform. After checking students' attendance by calling out their names at 8:30 a.m., Song let the 23 students share greetings through web cameras.



The MOE gave schools guidance for remote learning, suggesting the use of a number of methods such as classes involving real-time interaction, using online lectures pre-recorded by national educational TV channels like EBS, or giving projects and homework to students. For elementary school students, education authorities recommended schools use pre-recorded materials, but teachers at Yongsan Elementary School, chose real-time interaction.



"We were not so sure whether the younger students, such as first and second graders, could handle the smart devices and programs required for remote classes. So we asked parents to participate in our demonstration class last weekend so they could practice and teach their children, and thankfully, the children learned so quickly that they could manage the programs and tools by themselves," said Kim Kyung-mi, deputy headmaster at the school.



Kim also said many teachers at the school believed students would be able to concentrate more in real-time interaction classes. During the class Thursday, some parents could be seen standing behind the students monitoring the class, but Kim said teachers didn't discourage them from doing this.



"We need to relieve the parents' anxiety by letting them watch the class because this online school opening is unprecedented and parents also need some time to get used to the change," Kim said.



Although the class went smoothly at the school, complaints from many parents and students have erupted over persistent malfunctions of the distance learning platforms.



In some regions, there were access failures for both EBS Online Class, and e-learning sites run by the Korea Education and Research Service (KERIS) during the morning when students tried to confirm their attendance.



In response to the technical problems, the MOE announced that it plans to increase the number of servers for the e-learning sites, and keep testing the system load in order to prevent access failures by April 20 when first to third graders at elementary schools will begin their classes.



The education ministry had earlier postponed the new school year, which was initially scheduled to start March 2, by five weeks to April 6. The opening date was delayed again as fears grew that schools could become hotbeds for the coronavirus when unexpected infection clusters occurred in various parts of the country.





