By Bahk Eun-ji
Emergency child care services at kindergartens and elementary schools will be now available for an extra two hours until 7 p.m. to help take care of children whose parents both work, the education ministry said Friday, in an effort to help families cope with childcare amid the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The coronavirus outbreak has caused all schools in Korea to postpone the start of the spring semester by three weeks, until the third week of March. The government has had kindergartens and elementary schools offer an emergency child care service for young children with no parents at home during the day.
Originally, the service ran until 5 p.m., however the two-hour extension came as many working parents ― especially in the private sector ― struggled to be able to take care of their children from that time.
“The Ministry of Education (MOE) is urging parents and students to refrain from using multi-use facilities and stay away from public areas where many people gather, as the next couple of weeks will be a turning point for containing COVID-19,” said Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae during a press briefing at the Government Complex in Seoul.
The education minister also said the decision to delay the school opening for three weeks was urgently needed to keep children safe from the risk of infection, and that schools and students should not be an ingress for the virus in their community.
In addition, schools operating the care service have been asked to provide lunch for the children during the period.
