SEOUL – Administration in South Korea made a widespread shift in businesses routines of the country on Thursday in a bid to help students focus completely on their exams by managing a pin-drop silence nationwide.
Scores of students underwent country’s annual college entrance exam and the administration helped them all by grounding planes and changing business hours of the country as the crucial exam would decide the career and even marriage prospects of the citizens.
To ensure the 606,000 entrants arrived on time and did not get caught in snarl-ups, government offices, major businesses and even Seoul’s stock market opened at 10am, an hour later than usual.
The magnitude of the operation can be observed from the fact that transport authorities halted all airport landings and take-offs for 30 minutes in the afternoon as students were giving language listening test at that time.
Moreover, work at many construction sites was halted and large trucks were banned from roads near the 1,183 test venues nationwide.
Interestingly, police vehicles and motorcycles were enlisted to escort students running late to the test.
The exam, which includes mathematics, science and language components, began at 9am and concluded on Thursday evening.
Not just students were toiling hard inside examination halls, their parents also headed to prayer places to pray for better results of their scions.
