Ministry Proposes Dialogue with Medical Students for 1st Time in 2 Months

The education ministry proposed dialogue with the nation’s medical students’ group amid the students’ collective action in protest of the medical school admissions quota hike, some two months after the ministry’s previous dialogue proposal was left unanswered.

The ministry on Tuesday made the proposal to the Korean Medical Student Association via the media as the group representing medical students from 40 medical schools nationwide has not publicly revealed its contact information.

The ministry plans to appeal to the students to end their collective action and return to schools, while emphasizing that the students could face enrollment restrictions unless they return to their studies and come to talks on ways to improve the medical school training environment.

As of Monday, 37 out of 40 schools had resumed classes, but the student participation rate remained low amid schools’ decision to show flexibility to prevent the students from failing their studies.

Education minister Lee Ju-ho said the government is open to collecting students’ opinions without setting the topics or method of communication.