Starting from this month, middle school students in the Seoul metropolitan area are likely to go to school more often as the government aims to implement full-scale offline classes in the fall semester.

Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae told reporters on Wednesday that the ministry will raise schools’ attendance cap under Level Two social distancing from one-third to two-thirds. 

To this end, the Education Ministry will expand the number of offline classes from June 14 should the social distancing level remain at Level Two in the Seoul metro area. 

The latest move is expected to particularly expand school attendance of middle school students in Seoul and surrounding areas, which is currently relatively low. 

As of May 26, the attendance rate at elementary schools in the Seoul metro area reached nearly 68 percent with high schools hitting some 67 percent. However, middle schools stood at only 48-point-three percent, which is far lower than the nearly 81 percent reported in regions outside the Seoul metro area.