Ministry of Education to Conduct Survey on Teachers Involved in 'Private Education Interest Cartel' Collusion

Voluntary Reporting Recruitment for Profit-Making Activity Records
Strict Measures Planned Including Investigation Requests and Disciplinary Actions
'Concurrent Position Approval Guidelines' to Be Established in the Second Half of the Year

The Ministry of Education will conduct an investigation, including a voluntary reporting period, regarding profit-making activities in which some current teachers provide mock exam questions or lectures to private education companies and receive money in return.

According to the Ministry of Education on the 31st, the ministry will accept voluntary reports from teachers about their history of profit-making activities linked to private education companies. The voluntary reporting period will be from the 1st to the 14th of next month, and reports can be submitted through the Ministry of Education’s website and other channels.

Based on the submitted reports, if illegal profit-making activities linked to private education companies by teachers are confirmed, the Ministry of Education plans to take measures such as requesting investigations and disciplinary actions according to relevant laws. The ministry stated, "If teachers fail to report sincerely during this voluntary reporting period to evade sanctions, and it is later revealed during audits or other investigations that they did not report or submitted false reports, more severe measures will be taken under a zero-tolerance policy."

Additionally, the ministry will analyze the concurrent employment approval data regularly submitted by metropolitan and provincial offices of education and, if necessary, cooperate with these offices to inspect the status of concurrent employment approvals.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

To block profit-making activities colluding with private education companies by some teachers, the Ministry of Education plans to establish guidelines for concurrent employment approvals in the second half of 2023 based on the results of this voluntary reporting and the concurrent employment approval data. Strict prohibitions will be applied to cases where teachers provide materials or mock exam questions exclusively to certain students through private academy instructors.

Jang Sang-yoon, Deputy Minister of Education, said, "The deviant behavior of some teachers colluding with private education companies neglects their responsibilities as educators and undermines the trust in public education. We will respond strictly to this to renew fairness in the educational field."

Meanwhile, on the 31st, the Ministry of Education will conduct a joint on-site inspection with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education targeting a private English academy for young children located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, to investigate irregular and illegal operations.

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