"Failed but..." Gyeonggi Science High School Fully Recalls Scholarships from Graduates Applying to Medical School

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[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] Gyeonggi Science High School, the only gifted school in Gyeonggi Province, has reclaimed all scholarships paid during enrollment from graduates who have applied to medical schools. This is because it is deemed inconsistent with the school's founding purpose of nurturing science and technology talents.

According to the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education on the 14th, the rate of Gyeonggi Science High School graduates entering medical-related universities has been increasing annually: 6.7% in the 2018 academic year, 8.7% in 2019, and 10.3% in 2020.

Gyeonggi Science High School was converted into a science gifted school in 2013 under the Gifted School Promotion Act. Since then, contrary to its founding purpose of fostering talents in science and engineering fields such as mathematics and science, the number of students advancing to medical schools has increased.

Accordingly, starting from the 2018 academic year freshman selection, Gyeonggi Science High School specified in its admission guidelines that students applying to medical schools would face disadvantages such as 'scholarship reclamation' and 'exclusion from university recommendation letters.'

As a result, among the 126 students who entered in the 2018 academic year and graduated this February, 23 students (with a total scholarship amount of about 126 million KRW) became the first subjects of reclamation. It was confirmed that they had submitted applications to medical universities, and regardless of acceptance, their scholarships were fully reclaimed.

The scholarships provided to Gyeonggi Science High School students cover research activities, international exchange cooperation activities, career experience support funds, excluding tuition fees, amounting to about 5.5 million KRW per student over three years.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, Seoul Science High School and Gwangju Science High School, which are also part of the gifted school system, similarly reclaim scholarships from students entering medical-related universities. Notably, from the 2022 academic year freshman recruitment, the same sanctions will be uniformly applied to all eight gifted schools nationwide.

A Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education official stated, "Science high schools should be operated in accordance with their founding purpose of nurturing science and technology talents," adding, "This will serve as an opportunity to change the prejudice that science high schools are merely a pathway to medical school admission."

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