SEOUL, Dec 3, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – South Korea fell quiet on Thursday as
hundreds of thousands of students sat the high-stakes national
university entrance exam, with the added tension of strict
anti-coronavirus measures.
Success in the day-long test — which teenagers spend years
preparing for — can mean a place in one of the elite colleges seen as
key to future careers, incomes, and even marriage prospects.
And the coronavirus epidemic added to the pressure, delaying and
disrupting the school year in the South, forcing all classes online
for a time.
The usual scenes of freshmen and juniors gathering at the gates to
cheer on their schoolmates as they arrived for the exam were absent on
Thursday, barred under coronavirus precautions.
At the elite Ewha Girls’ Foreign Language High School many students
arrived on their own or with their test-taking friends, and some
parents seemed more nervous than their children.
“I’m actually quite relieved now that it’s all going to be over
soon,” said 18-year-old Kim Chae-eun.
“This exam is important because Korean society makes you study your
whole life up till this point for this one exam.”
The South brought its outbreak broadly under control with its
“trace, test and treat” approach, but in recent weeks has seen new
infections jump from around 100 a day to more than 500.
By global standards the figure remains extremely low but the rise
has alarmed authorities, who have tightened social distancing
measures.
The exam itself is a particular concern, with nearly 500,000 pupils
gathering in test centres across the country.
Plastic see-through dividers were set up on each desk and students
were required to wear facemasks throughout the test.
Students were checked on arrival and those showing temperatures of
37.5 C or higher — or other coronavirus symptoms — had to take the
test in a separate designated area.
All were advised to refrain from gathering and talking during
breaks, with exam rooms to be ventilated after each session.
– Quiet please –
The exam itself was delayed for two weeks due to the earlier
disruptions to teaching, and all high schools across the country have
returned to online classes for a week to try to prevent school
clusters.
“It will be even more difficult and worrisome to take the exam in
the coronavirus situation,” President Moon Jae-in wrote in a good luck
message posted on social media. “I’d like to put warm scarves around
your necks.”
South Korea pulls out all the stops to ensure the test takers are
not disturbed.
Government offices, businesses and even Seoul’s stock market opened
an hour later than usual to reduce traffic and help the students
arrive on time, and police escorts were available for any running late
— no admissions are allowed after the exam begins.
All take-offs and landings at South Korean airports are suspended
for 35 minutes during an English listening test, when all aircraft
already in the air must maintain an altitude higher than three
kilometres.
The transport ministry said 89 flights were rescheduled due to the
exam, including 10 international routes.
And there were no concessions for the infected: the government
said 35 students who have the virus were due to take the test at the
same time as their classmates, at hospitals or quarantine centres and
supervised by education officials in full personal protective
equipment.
A government demonstration video showed everything they used —
from pencils to the name tag identifying their desk — would be
disposed of as a biohazard afterwards.