South Korea's education ministry on Sunday said it will ease attendance caps for schools after health authorities decided to enforce the lowest level of social distancing measures. Schools around the nation are required to operate with antivirus limits amid the coronavirus pandemic. Currently, attendance is capped at one-third in elementary and middle schools, and two-thirds in high schools. But starting Oct. 19, the attendance cap for all schools will be set at two-thirds, Seoul's education

The Seoul Foreign School has appointed the interim head of the Swiss International School in Qatar as its high school principal, it announced Sunday. Nancy Le Nezet will be leaving her current position in Qatar to lead SFS High School at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year. SFS is an international independent school in Seoul for more than 1,450 students aged from 2 to 18 years. Le Nezet has extensive experience in International Baccalaureate education and excellence in pedagogical skills,

Private elementary schools have held more in-person classes than public ones, a lawmaker said Wednesday, claiming it to be evidence of the “unequal” disruptions in students’ learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the office of Rep. Lee Tahney of the Democratic Party, private elementary schools in Seoul offered an average of 4.2 in-person classes per week, compared to just 1.9 at public schools. The data is based on lesson plans that the schools reported to the Se

Calls for smaller student bodies grow as virus outbreak hampers in-person learning in crowded classrooms

South Korea saw over 500 reported cases of COVID-19 among students in the past four months, according to a lawmaker on Friday. The total number of reported COVID-19 cases among kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school students between May 20 and last Friday stood at 561, Rep. Jung Chan-min of the main opposition People Power Party said, citing data provided by the education ministry. The number of elementary school patients amounted to 220, followed by high school and kindergarten pati

The number of teenage gambling addicts has grown sharply in the past five years, data showed Sunday. According to Korea Center on Gambling Problems data obtained by the office of Rep. Bae June-young of the People Power Party, 981 teenagers underwent therapy for gambling addiction last year, a number that has increased by more than 14 times since 2015. In 2015, only 71 teens participated in the same program. The number rose to 240 the next year, 345 in 2017, 714 in 2018 and to 981 in 2019. Thi

The number of those registered to take the annual college entrance exam fell to its lowest level in history this year, while the proportion of repeat takers rose to the highest.  According to the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, the number of applicants for the College Scholastic Aptitude Test, or the Suneung, reached 493,433, down 55,301 from 548,734 a year earlier. It is the lowest figure since the national exam was introduced in 1994. Taking place once a year, the Suneung

Schools in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province will resume in-person classes Monday after South Korea eased its social distancing measures in the capital region. To minimize the risk of infection in classrooms, kindergartens and elementary and middle schools must limit attendance to one-third of the student body until Oct. 11, and high schools must limit attendance to two-thirds, the Education Ministry said. For the next several months, the measures will also apply to high school seniors und

The Ministry of Education isn’t replying right away, after the Seoul City education chief suggested that first grade elementary and middle school students be allowed back into classrooms full-time. Instead, the ministry is waiting until the end of the Chuseok holiday to make a decision. An Education Ministry official said in a closed briefing with reporters Thursday that the ministry respects the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s request but is unwilling to rush any decision

Schools in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province will resume in-person classes next week as South Korea has eased its social distancing measures in parts of the country, the Education Ministry announced Tuesday. Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said in a press briefing that kindergartens and elementary, middle and high schools there will allow students to return to classrooms from Sept. 21. The decision was made after Korea lowered the social distancing restrictions in the capital region from the

Sejong University in Seoul ranked ninth among South Korean universities in the 2021 world university rankings from the Times Higher Education, the college announced Monday. The UK institution for higher education moved Sejong University up one notch compared with last year’s evaluation. Its standing among 1,527 universities in 93 countries climbed from 401st-500th place last year to 301st-350th place this year. The World University Rankings evaluates universities every year on 13 criteri

The Ministry of Education said Sunday it would provide an artificial intelligence-based mathematics program to elementary schools across the country, starting Monday. This marks the first time the country will incorporate AI technology in school curriculum. The AI-base program which is designed for the first and second grade students at elementary schools features a system that recommends educational content that matches the learning level of each student after analyzing their ability to perf

South Korea will see a wider variety of e-textbooks offered for elementary school students with the government’s plan to allow more options to schools and students. The Ministry of Education announced Friday that it plans to open up development and selection of social studies and science digital textbooks for third grade to sixth grade students to private publishers and have them government-authorized. At present, such e-textbooks are developed, published and distributed by the governmen

North London Collegiate School Jeju has produced its best batch of graduates ever, despite uncertainties and difficulties stemming from the coronavirus. The international school on Jeju Island, with English as its language of instruction, said its latest batch of graduates who left school in June reached the highest level of academic proficiency and college advancement in the school’s history, overcoming challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With a 100 percent pass rate, the class of 20

Yeonsu-gu, a district located in Incheon, has started preparing to host the fifth International Conference on Learning Cities held by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, slated for October 2021. The conference will be held at Songdo Convensia for three days, with some 5,000 guests from around the world. Representatives from 197 UNESCO Lifelong Learning member countries and 174 UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities member cities from 55 different countries are set to take part in the