Gov’t Unveils Guidelines to Prevent Medical Students from Failing Semester amid Ongoing Boycott

The government has unveiled a set of guidelines to help medical students avoid failing their semester, amid the ongoing class boycott protesting the increase in medical school admissions quota.

As the boycotting students are unable to meet class requirements for the first academic semester of the year, the education ministry announced the guidelines on Wednesday, which will allow medical schools to determine the academic failure of the students on a yearly basis instead of the current semester basis. This will let schools to decide whether to fail a student due to insufficient class hours at the end of February next year, instead of August this year.

Medical schools are also allowed to extend or shorten the duration of each academic semester or operate three semesters per year instead of the current two, allowing medical students to catch up with their class hour requirements.

The government is also planning to schedule an additional national medical license test next year to provide more opportunities for students to take the exam.

Meanwhile, amid criticism that the latest guidelines will give preferential treatment to the boycotting students, education minister Lee Ju-ho said the measures were taken for public interest, including the stability of the future medical system and a healthy number of medical personnel.