Taiwan’s government is delaying the start of winter semester by two weeks for primary and secondary schools. Officials say the goal is to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Education Minister Pan Wen-chung explained the decision at a press conference on Sunday. He said that all schools below the university level will now begin class on February 25. The semester will also end two weeks later than originally scheduled. Pan said the delay will not affect major events on the school calendar, like the college entrance exams.
The announcement has drawn concern from working parents who now have to figure out to do with their children before they go back to school. Labor ministry officials say that one parent in each family can apply to go on unpaid leave until the semester begins.
Some parents have also expressed concern about daycare and after-school classes, which are already under way at many kindergartens. Pan says the education ministry will work with the economics ministry to deliver 500,000 surgical masks to kindergartens in order to give the children proper protection.