"Cutting Scores of Disabled Examinees!" Jinju Gyodae Faces 10% Enrollment Suspension for Grade Manipulation Scandal

Admission Team Leader Instructed to Lower Document Evaluation for Severely Visually Impaired

5 Additional Cases of Suspected Grade Manipulation Found During Ministry of Education Investigation

Apology Statement from the President of Jinju National University of Education Regarding Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Saeyan] It has been confirmed by the Ministry of Education's investigation that Jinju National University of Education, a national university, manipulated the document evaluation scores downward for severely disabled applicants in the college entrance examination.

The Ministry of Education imposed a strong sanction to suspend 10% of the total admission quota of Jinju National University of Education for the 2022 academic year.

On the 19th, the Ministry of Education announced that it finalized this measure and notified the university after going through procedures such as investigating the allegations of entrance exam manipulation for special education candidates at Jinju National University of Education.

Allegations surfaced late that in the 2018 academic year early admission at Jinju National University of Education, the head of the admissions team instructed to lower the document evaluation score of a student with severe visual impairment. In fact, student A's score was adjusted downward.

During the investigation, the Ministry of Education found suspected cases where the admissions team head was involved in manipulating the scores of five other examinees who applied through the special education candidate track and referred the case to the prosecution for investigation.

However, no evidence was found to suggest that the admissions team head's misconduct was an organizational-level directive to discriminate against disabled individuals.

The Ministry of Education also confirmed that although the admissions officer who reported the incident notified the university of the score manipulation, the university's superior at the time did not take appropriate measures such as verifying the facts.

Regarding this incident, Yoo Gilhan, president of Jinju National University of Education, posted an apology on the school's website on the 17th, stating, "As the current president, I feel a heavy responsibility and offer my deepest apologies to the disabled students who were discriminated against and to the public," bowing his head.

Since it was confirmed that the special admission track was operated unfairly, the Ministry of Education notified Jinju National University of Education of a suspension of 10% of the total admission quota for the 2022 academic year.

Accordingly, Jinju National University of Education will not be able to admit about 30 new students, corresponding to 10% of the total admission quota, for one year in the 2022 academic year.

Professor Lee, the then Dean of Academic Affairs, who failed to take appropriate action despite receiving the report of score manipulation, was also given a "warning" for violating Article 56 (Duty of Diligence) of the National Public Service Act.

During the investigation, the Ministry of Education requested the prosecution to investigate on charges of "obstruction of official duties by deception" to determine whether the admissions team head gave instructions.

The admissions team head received a minor disciplinary action from the school last year related to this incident and retired, and is currently undergoing criminal trial for this case.

The Ministry of Education plans to conduct a fact-finding inspection targeting universities that have operated special education candidate admission tracks in the past three years among four-year teacher training institutions nationwide to check for discrimination against disabled individuals and whether the admissions process was conducted fairly.

The admissions office of Jinju National University of Education said, "Since we just received the notification, it is difficult to make any statement," and refrained from commenting.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.