The training ministry stated on Sunday it can briefly enable medical college students to take a go away of absence provided that they return to high school subsequent 12 months.
The choice follows Seoul Nationwide College’s transfer late final month to approve go away of absence requests submitted en masse in protest of the federal government’s medical reform plans, which embody rising medical faculty quotas.
Whereas reaffirming its stance that taking go away to point out solidarity shouldn’t be a legitimate purpose, the ministry stated its non permanent measure is aimed, partially, at normalizing training.
It, nevertheless, warned that college students who fail to return subsequent 12 months will face penalties, together with doable expulsion.
The ministry pressured that taking semesters off in collective protest doesn’t “represent legit grounds” for a go away of absence, however added that universities ought to “assure college students the chance to return by way of particular person session.”
On Sept. 30, Seoul Nationwide College permitted go away of absence requests for the spring semester from about 780 medical college students, representing round 96 % of its whole scholar physique of the medical division.
This has raised considerations that different universities might observe go well with, probably resulting in widespread absences amongst medical college students.
5 organizations representing the medical neighborhood, together with the Korean Medical Affiliation, launched a joint assertion blasting the choice as “an anti-constitutional transfer that infringes upon college students’ freedom and universities’ autonomy.”
Their assertion famous the Structure ensures the “independence, professionalism and political impartiality of training and the autonomy of establishments of upper studying” in Article 31 (4). The medical teams additionally pointed to Article 10 of the Structure, which states, “All residents shall be assured of human dignity and price and have the appropriate to the pursuit of happiness. It shall be the responsibility of the State to verify and assure the elemental and inviolable human rights of people.”
“The training ministry has gone towards the Structure to strip college students of freedom as a result of it is aware of medical training is not going to be doable below these circumstances,” the assertion learn. “One thing like this might solely occur in a totalitarian dictatorship.”
The teams stated the one approach for the federal government to carry medical college students again to class is “to apologize for making a unilateral push for insurance policies and to have discussions with the medical neighborhood.”
