Teachers prepare online classes in an empty classroom of a high school in the southwestern city of Gwangju on April 1, 2020 (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to drag on, high schoolers in their second year of remote schooling are considering dropping out of school to opt for a general equivalency diploma.
The introduction of remote schooling has led to a deteriorating sense of concentration among students and limited engagement with teachers that has resulted in low satisfaction levels, encouraging students and their parents to opt for private education and prepare for college entrance examinations more efficiently.
A 16-year-old student surnamed Ahn who dropped out of high school in May this year, is now attending a private academy for education.
“Remote schooling was a very unsatisfying experience for me since I felt I wasn’t learning anything,” she said. “I’m planning to take the exam for a general equivalency diploma next April and the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) the year after.”
The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation reported that 14,277 students or 2.8 percent of the students who took this year’s CSAT were passed the exam for a general equivalency diploma previously, up by 586 people from last year.
“This indicates that students are beginning to shun public schools because they can’t properly prepare them for the CSATs,” said a source from Jongro Haneul Education Corp., a leading private education institution.
Parents are posting their concerns about their children’s education on online forums.
“It is a public school’s mission to educate citizens, but choosing to focus on college entrance exams to get in prestigious colleges bears a question mark about their future as the productive individuals that society needs,” said Prof. Park Nam-gi from the Gwangju National University of Education.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
