After an unprecedented five-month break, South Korean students are returning to their classrooms as government health officials declared that the country may have avoided a second wave of infections.
The schools are reopening in stages, with high school seniors returning first on Wednesday and middle and elementary students slated to go back to school in the following weeks. The third-year high school students are leading the return as they now only have half a year before their annual university entrance exams in early December, education officials said.
Unlike in the U.S., South Korea’s academic year starts in March, but students never returned to school after their winter break as the nation confirmed its first COVID-19 infection in late January and then saw a spike in cases — peaking at near 1,000 a day — in February. Restarts of schools were delayed five times, and in April, all students were offered online classes instead.