Majority of teachers, parents, students positive about wider school reopening

More than 65 percent of teachers, parents and students were positive about more in-person learning in the second half, a survey showed Thursday, as the Ministry of Education gears up for bringing all children back to their classrooms full time.

The survey conducted by the ministry on 1.65 million of them nationwide from June 3-9 showed that 39.8 percent of the respondents considered wider school reopening to be "very positive" and 25.9 percent "positive."

Among parents, 77.7 percent welcomed the news, while the figure was 52.4 percent among teachers and 49.7 percent among students. Nearly 19 percent of the students considered wider school reopening to be "very negative."

The respondents chose vaccinations of teachers and school officials as the most urgent issue in order to have more frequent face-to-face classes at 59.7 percent, followed by improved virus restrictions at schools (45.4 percent) and better school meals (41.8 percent). They were allowed to choose multiple answers.

The expansion of preemptive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing at schools received the fewest votes among six choices at 21.3 percent.

The ministry is scheduled to announce a plan Sunday for full school reopening in the second semester based on the survey results and opinions from educators. (Yonhap)