Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae on Monday expressed the goal to fully resume in-person classes for all students from the fall semester.

Attending an advisory meeting with quarantine experts, Yoo said that normalizing school operations is the key among many measures being sought to restore education.

The minister reiterated that schools are relatively safer now, noting there were fewer than 19 confirmed cases out of 100-thousand kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school students over the past three weeks. The national average is 25 per 100-thousand people.

Yoo said the ministry will maintain the current attendance cap at 73 percent but will expand it in phases, adding that Singapore, the U.K. and China have all resumed full classroom teaching.

The minister said it is necessary for students to return to the classroom because of disparities in learning along with other negative impacts on students’ social and emotional well-being. However, she cautioned against being too hasty, saying that certain conditions must be met.