On the 23rd, the presidents of 40 medical schools across the country will decide whether to allow the return of students who were put on leave. This effectively grants excessive privileges to hardline medical students, prompting backlash within and outside the medical community. Concerns about fairness for those students who returned earlier and collective bullying remain.
According to the medical community and others on the 20th, the Council of Presidents for Medical School Advancement (Medical Council) will hold a meeting on the 23rd to finalize discussions on follow-up measures after the declaration of the return of students on leave. Previously, the presidents of 40 medical schools held an emergency meeting on the 17th and agreed to allow the return of 8,000 medical students who were put on leave due to not participating in the first semester.
Since the medical school curriculum is structured on a yearly basis, being placed on leave in the first semester means missing out on advancing to the next year. Nevertheless, privileges were granted to allow these students to return in the second semester. The presidents of the medical schools also decided to propose to the government to implement additional testing so that students in their third and fourth years can graduate normally.
The Korean Association of Medical Colleges and Graduate Schools (KAMC), consisting of deans of medical schools, has also prepared similar measures.
The education authorities plan to discuss with the assembly of deans and presidents of medical schools if a common proposal is brought forward. Given that President Lee Jae-myung has requested a plan for the return of medical students, there is a high possibility that such a plan will be accepted.
However, there are also movements opposing the excessive privileges granted to students on leave within and outside the medical community. Major faculty members at Yonsei University's medical school reportedly submitted their letters of resignation on the 16th. Changing school rules to allow those on leave to return is seen as unfair to students who returned in the first semester.
On the 17th, a petition titled 'Opposition to granting return privileges to medical students and residents' was posted on the National Assembly's public petition site. The petitioner noted, "There are movements detecting the discussion of special measures for the readmission and return of medical students and residents, or that have already been allowed," and pointed out that "if those who stopped their education due to extreme collective actions are allowed to return without any responsibility, similar forms of backlash will be repeated." He further claimed, "This greatly undermines the consistency and public nature of medical policy."