Medical students threaten to extend class boycott into 2nd semester

The second semester will soon begin but medical students don't seem to want to go back to school. First-year pre-med students are no exception. If medical schools admit new students under their increased enrollment quota, about 7,700 first-year students will have to attend classes simultaneously next year.

According to the medical community on Tuesday, a survey conducted by medical students showed that most first-year students plan to take a second semester off.

Ninety-nine percent of first-year students at a medical school plan to take a leave of absence in the second semester, too. Only one student said he or she would not take a leave of absence. In the survey of first-year pre-med students at another medical college, 67 percent of students intend to take a leave of absence, compared to 33 percent who do not.

The government told medical schools not to approve the first-semester leave of absence submitted by medical students. It has also issued the "Guidelines for Flexible Operation of Medical School Academic Affairs" to prevent mass flunking.

However, medical students are not budging.

Notably, the first-year students have the lowest attendance rate. According to data on "National Medical Student Attendance Status" submitted by the Ministry of Education to Rep. Jin Sun-mi of the Democratic Party of Korea on July 22, only 495 students were attending classes at 40 medical schools nationwide. Of the 19,345 medical students, 18,217 were enrolled, excluding 1,128 who have taken a leave of absence due to military enlistment or illness. However, only 2.7 percent of them were attending classes.

Only 53 first-year students, or 1.7 percent of the total of 3,191, were attending classes. This is the lowest attendance rate of all grades. In the second year, 88 students, or 2.9 percent of 2,996, were attending. In the first year of medical school (main course), 90 students, or 2.9 percent of 3,095 students, were attending classes. In the second year of the main course, 83 students, or 2.8 percent of 2,983 students, were attending classes. The number and percentages for the third-year students were 77 students and 2.6 percent and 104 students and 3.5 percent.

Besides, only 5.3 percent of the fourth-year students were eligible to sit for the 89th National Medical Examination in 2025.

There were four medical schools with no students attending, with some others attended by one or two students.

If the medical school enrollment in 2025 increases by 1,509 students to 4,567 incoming freshmen, the educational landscape will be extremely disrupted.

If medical students return next year, the first-year pre-med class must admit 3,138 students with 4,567 incoming freshmen, excluding the 53 students attending the class. It's not just the first-year class next year. They'll have to take the class and clinical practices with 7,705 people throughout the next years.

However, the expanded medical schools are struggling to find the capacity to train the new class of 2025. There is even a move to reject a major change evaluation targeting 30 medical schools, which increased their admissions by over 10 percent by the Korean Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation.