The South Korean government has unveiled a series of measures that relax class attendance requirements for medical students. The move by authorities is aimed at helping medical students avoid failing the semester due to their ongoing boycott, which consists of not attending classes in protest of the increase in the admission quota from the medical schools.
The South Korean Ministry of Education decided to announce the guidelines because many medical students have been collectively boycotting classes for the past five months. The protest is due to the government increasing the number of medical students nationwide by about 1,500 for next year.
Education Minister Lee Jo-ho urged medical students participating in the protest to “stop collective action and make a responsible decision to return to school.”
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New measures to prevent mass failure in medical schools
Currently, by not meeting the attendance requirements for the first academic semester, which ends in August, most medical students run the risk of failing the academic year.
Under the latest relief measures, medical schools will be able to determine whether a student should fail at the end of a year of classes, rather than a semester. This means that medical schools will be able to decide whether to fail a student due to a lack of class hours at the end of February next year, rather than August this year.
Medical schools will also be able to flexibly extend or shorten the length of each academic year or operate three terms per year, instead of the current two, to give students enough time to catch up on their class time requirements. Evening, online and weekend classes may also be offered.
In addition, government officials plan to schedule an additional nationwide medical licensing test in 2025 to provide more opportunities for students to take the exam.
Source: https://reporteasia.com/region/corea-del-sur/2024/07/12/nuevas-medidas-gobierno-surcoreano-evitar-reprobacion-masiva-facultades-medicina/
