A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Friday, February 28, 2020
In South Korea, coronavirus gives kids a break from school pressures, but also traps them
Yoo Ju-chan, 8, spends his free time at home studying and playing with his dog. (Courtesy of the Yoo family/The Washington Post)
But he’s not complaining. “Even with that homework, my playtime more
than doubled,” he said. “Now I have about seven hours of playtime. I
frolic with my dog at home. I play video games. I hang out with my
parents more.”
On Thursday, Japan went even further than South Korea, closing schools nationwide
through March because of the fast-spreading coronavirus, a significant
measure meant to limit the infection’s spread at what the government
considers a critical time.
Taking into account both countries, that’s nearly 20 million children
whose education is being disrupted, to curb the spread of a virus that
mainly kills elderly people.
Here in Seoul, there are distinctly mixed feelings about the government’s move.
South Korea has perhaps the most high-pressure and competitive education
system in the world, and many children spend several hours every
evening at cram schools known as hagwon, trying to gain a crucial
advantage over their peers.
Hwang Hyun-bi, 12, usually spends three hours at her hagwon every
evening after school — studying math, science, English and Chinese.
The hagwon has doubled or even tripled her homework to make up for the
class cancellations, and she says she doesn’t really have any more free
time. “But I did have some fun at home,” she said. “I watched ‘The
Incredibles’ with my sister.”
Nevertheless, Hyun-bi can’t wait for the virus threat to ease. This
month marked the final weeks of her time in elementary school: Children
weren’t allowed in classrooms unless they were wearing masks, and
parents weren’t allowed to attend the graduation ceremony.
“I really don’t like having to wear a mask during class,” she said. “It makes it hard for me to breathe.”
She had to cancel plans to celebrate her graduation with friends in
Seoul’s trendy Hongdae neighborhood, and when she went for orientation
at her new middle school, “everyone was wearing a mask, so I couldn’t
see the faces of my new friends.”
Her 6-year-old sister, Si-yeon, doesn’t have homework to make up for her
canceled hagwon classes. She has been spending her free time coloring,
drawing and painting — her dream is to become an artist — as well as
reading books. But she doesn’t like the virus, either.
“I like playing outside,” she said. “The last time I went out biking was
two weeks ago, and I love biking. Also, I couldn’t go to my
kindergarten this month. I wanted to go to my kindergarten and meet my
friends.”
The girls’ mother, Lee Eun-jin, says she and the other moms in the
neighborhood are worried about the “education gap” caused by the virus.
They live in Mok-dong, an affluent Seoul neighborhood known as a
“special education district” because of its abundance of hagwon and good
public schools. Here, parents spend an average of $1,000 a month on
after-school classes for their children.
On an online forum for Mok-dong mothers, Lee says people are discussing
how to make up for canceled hagwon classes and looking for private home
tutors. But she says she’d be more worried if her children were in high
school and preparing for exams.
“It’s a happy nuisance, I would say. I like spending more time with my
girls at home,” Lee said. “But taking care of them for 24 hours, no
school, no kindergarten, is a different story. If this was an actual
vacation, we would have planned outings, but we are just stuck indoors
in this awkward limbo.”
Despite the government’s “strong” advice to close down, two-thirds of
the 25,000 hagwon in the South Korean capital have stayed open, Cho
Hee-yeon, Seoul’s education chief, said Thursday.
“I understand that parents are making the best effort to support their
children’s studies, and have difficulty finding a place to entrust their
children in these urgent situations,” Cho said in a statement. “But now
is the time for our country to act together to overcome the crisis.”
Choi Bo-na, a 29-year-old teacher, says her school decided only this
week that it would close, and she thinks it might have to reopen for
high school students preparing for the college entrance exam. “For them,
studying is an urgent priority,” she said. “Virus excuses won’t make up
for failing the crucial college entrance exam.”
Choi is also considering videotaping or live-streaming her reading and essay-writing class.
Four-year-old Sun Yul normally lives with his father and grandmother in
Paju near the border with North Korea. But with kindergarten there
canceled, he spent this week with his mother in her apartment in Seoul’s
Itaewon district. He’s having a great time, he says, because he can
watch YouTube videos at home.
His mom, Son Seung-hee, quickly chimed in.
“Well, you know, moms are in this emergency situation right now.
Following nursery closures, I have to plan how my baby will spend his 24
hours,” she said. “A baking session in the morning, drawing together,
playing in the kitchen in the afternoon, and then the remaining time, I
have no choice but to let the kid watch YouTube.”
On Wednesday, Yul and his mom had a big piece of white paper rolled out
on the floor and were creating a “treasure map” with paintbrushes and
crayons.
“Yul has a lot of free time and wants to play,” Son said. “The sky outside is very blue. But we can’t go anywhere.”
Denyer reported from Tokyo.