Students and teachers will be provided with free COVID-19 antigen kits ahead of the start of the 2022 school year, with the recommendation to self-test before returning to campus grounds next month.   

Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae in a Wednesday briefing announced the government stands ready to distribute self-testing kits to some six-point-92 million students and teachers at elementary, middle and high schools across the nation.

Students will be advised to self-test once in the first week of March and then twice a week from the following week, while teachers will be encouraged to self-test once a week.  

Amid parents’ concerns that self-testing could cause their children physical pain and discomfort, the ministry decided the measure would be a recommendation and not a requirement. 

A budget of some 150 billion won has been earmarked for the program. Under the plan, 60-point-five million kits will be distributed from the fourth week of February through the end of the following month, with an average of one or two kits to be given to each recipient per week.