The Education Ministry has devised mid- and long-term measures to overcome learning loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and tackle overcrowded classrooms.

The ministry on Thursday unveiled plans to inject 570 billion won to set up after-school classes for supplementary lessons to address learning loss. Each class would accommodate three to five students.  

Education offices of each city and province will autonomously decide the program details. The ministry estimates that some 690-thousand elementary, middle and high school students will be able to attend the free-of-charge classes during this year’s second semester and nearly one-point-one million students will do so next year. 

The ministry also plans to invest three trillion won through 2024 to thin out overcrowded classrooms, defining overcrowding as 28 students or more.

From the second semester, the ministry will provide support in expanding schools and dividing classrooms to one-thousand-155 elementary, middle and high schools that are dealing with the issue.