"Current Teacher Accepts Money from Private Education Company for Question Trading"… Ministry of Education "Strict Response" (Comprehensive)

Board of Audit and Inspection Checks Work Status of Private Education Participants
56 Investigated for Violations of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act and Obstruction of Business

[Image source=Yonhap News]

An audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection revealed that allegations of a 'private education cartel,' involving active teachers colluding with private education companies to provide mock exam questions in exchange for money, were true.

On the 11th, the Board of Audit and Inspection announced that the results of the audit conducted from September to December last year on 'the participation of teachers in the private education market and related work conduct' confirmed that there was a transaction of questions mediated by the exchange of money between private education companies seeking questions aligned with the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) trends and some teachers seeking financial gain.

The Board requested the National Police Agency to investigate 56 individuals, including teachers and academy officials found guilty of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, obstruction of business, breach of trust, and bribery. This number exceeds by about 30 the 22 individuals referred for investigation by the Ministry of Education last year for related charges.

In particular, it was confirmed that during the process in which an English passage from a private mock exam by a famous instructor in 2022 was used as question number 23 in that year's CSAT, academy instructors, teachers, question setters, and the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) were all involved.

According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, Professor A at a university reviewed the August 2022 EBS CSAT-linked textbook, scheduled for publication in January 2023, commissioned by KICE. The textbook included a question created by a high school teacher in March 2022 based on a passage titled "Too Much Information" (TMI). Professor A became aware of the TMI passage while reviewing the EBS textbook in August 2022 and later, as an English question setter for the 2023 CSAT, used the TMI passage without permission to create question number 23 on the CSAT.

Famous instructor B, who usually purchased questions from teachers to create mock exams, obtained questions based on the TMI passage through another teacher C, who was acquainted with the original creator of the TMI passage, and published them as a mock exam at the end of September. During this process, the English team at KICE failed to properly cross-check the private mock exam questions before finalizing the CSAT questions, allowing the TMI passage questions to be duplicated on the CSAT.

The Board of Audit and Inspection reported that 215 objections were filed claiming that the same passage as the 'top instructor’s mock exam question' appeared on the CSAT.

A Board official stated, "It has been confirmed that the 'private education cartel' was behind the fact that the 2023 CSAT English questions were identical to passages created by a major private academy instructor’s mock exam and the EBS CSAT textbook review copy," adding, "We expect more detailed information to be revealed through the police investigation."

KICE’s 'Poor Verification'... Active Admissions Officers Employed by Private Education Companies

The audit also confirmed that teachers with experience as CSAT review committee members recruited other CSAT reviewers to form a question supply organization, traded questions with private education companies, or that some teachers concealed their dealings with private education companies while participating as CSAT question setters.

High school teacher D, who participated in multiple CSAT and mock evaluation review committees, recruited a total of eight teachers with review and question-setting experience whom he met during CSAT and mock evaluation question-setting retreats. He formed a so-called question supply organization and produced and supplied about 2,000 questions from 2019 to May 2023, receiving 660 million KRW. Of this, 390 million KRW was paid to participating teachers, and the remaining 270 million KRW was collected as his own question production and brokerage fees, according to the Board.

Another high school teacher E co-managed a publishing company established by their spouse, formed a question production team of 35 active teachers, and transferred questions to private education companies and famous academy instructors, earning several hundred million KRW in illicit profits.

High school teacher F was found to have received 180 million KRW from 2019 to 2022 for producing and supplying over 1,200 mock exam questions and supplementary teaching materials for academy lectures to private education companies. High school teacher G produced and supplied over 7,000 expected school exam questions to an online private education company from 2018 to September 2023 and received 83 million KRW in return.

Additionally, cases were uncovered where active admissions officers were employed by private education companies, providing lectures on writing self-introduction letters and receiving money.

The Board of Audit and Inspection stated, "Many cases were confirmed where admissions officers violated the Higher Education Act provisions restricting employment at academies for three years after retirement," adding, "Since there are no legal sanctions for violations, we will take measures such as recommending institutional improvements to the Ministry of Education after a resolution by the Audit Committee." They further explained, "We also plan to take strict actions, including holding accountable many teachers confirmed to have received money through question transactions, following the Audit Committee’s resolution."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As the private education cartel was exposed, the Ministry of Education announced a strict response policy.

On the 11th, the Ministry of Education stated, "We have actively cooperated with the Board of Audit and Inspection’s audit, and once the audit results are officially notified, we plan to strictly and promptly pursue disciplinary actions against the involved teachers." They also said they will continue to implement institutional improvements to strengthen the fairness of the CSAT.

The Ministry emphasized that it will strongly demand disciplinary measures from the relevant education offices against teachers found to have committed serious misconduct such as trading questions with private education companies, as confirmed by the Board’s audit results. The ‘Teacher Concurrent Employment Permission Guidelines’ established by the Ministry in December last year specify the scope of prohibited concurrent employment and approval criteria to prevent teachers from engaging in profit-making activities in collusion with private education companies. The Ministry also conducts biannual investigations into violations of concurrent employment permissions.

"Pushing to Extend Disciplinary Statute of Limitations for Teachers Involved in Admission Corruption to 10 Years"

The Ministry will also strengthen punishment standards for teacher misconduct. A Ministry official said, "We are promoting amendments to the Education Officials Act to extend the disciplinary statute of limitations for teachers involved in admission corruption from the current 3 years to 10 years," adding, "We plan to publicly announce the amendment to the ‘Regulations on Disciplinary Measures for Education Officials,’ which will establish sentencing standards for admission-related misconduct, by March to respond more strictly."

Furthermore, regarding the duplication of private mock exam passages on the CSAT, the Ministry said it will prepare measures to strengthen the fairness of CSAT question setting and apply them starting from the June mock evaluation for the 2025 academic year.

In response to multiple confirmed cases of active admissions officers violating current laws by working for private education companies, the Ministry stated, "We will work to ensure the effectiveness of regulations." The Ministry added that it plans to faithfully implement the Board of Audit and Inspection’s recommendations for institutional improvements, including expanding the scope of employment restrictions for current and former admissions officers and establishing sanction provisions through amendments to related laws.

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