Students at 10 medical schools are boycotting classes in protest of the government’s decision to increase the medical school enrollment quota, officials said Monday, raising concern they could end up failing to advance to a higher grade en masse.
The other 30 medical schools have postponed the opening of a new semester as protests continue against the government’s plan to add an additional 2,000 medical seats to the current 3,058 to help address a shortage of doctors, the education ministry said.
“We’ve confirmed class boycotts at 10 medical schools,” a ministry official said. “In other words, 10 out of the 40 medical schools have opened a new semester, while the 30 other schools have adjusted their academic schedules.”
Should class boycotts continue, students could face grade retention en masse. At most medical schools, students receive a failing grade if they are absent from one-third or one-fourth of the total number of classes, and those with even a single F should repeat the same year again.
At Hallym University in the eastern city of Chuncheon, students will get an F if they don’t return to class by Thursday, given their failure to meet the minimum number of classes they are required to take in a semester.
However, each university is trying to prevent such a situation from happening by looking for ways to make up the required minimum number of classes, which is set for 15 weeks in a semester.
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