"Daechi and Mokdong Current Teachers Trade Questions with Private Education Companies... Teacher Dismissed after Receiving 600 Million Won"

High School Teachers Received a Total of 21.3 Billion KRW from Question Trading with Private Education Companies
Board of Audit and Inspection Investigates "Teachers' Participation in the Private Education Market"
249 Teachers Identified; Systematic Question Trading Uncovered

An active high school teacher was found to have formed a question supply organization, selling questions to private education companies and instructors, receiving approximately 660 million KRW, leading the Board of Audit and Inspection to notify a dismissal. While serving as active teachers, they were found to have systematically traded questions or participated as examiners for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), creating school exam questions using those sold to private education companies.

On the 18th, the Board of Audit and Inspection disclosed the results of an audit titled "Inspection of the Work Status Related to Teachers' Participation in the Private Education Market," stating that they focused on examining teachers who received more than 50 million KRW from private education companies between 2018 and 2022 for question trading activities.

According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, among the 249 teachers subject to action confirmed to have traded questions, a total of 21.29 billion KRW was received through question trading. The scale of question trading with private education companies in Seoul and Gyeonggi reached 19.88 billion KRW, accounting for 93.4%, with a particularly high number of question trades among teachers at schools located in areas concentrated with large private education companies such as Daechi-dong and Mok-dong in Seoul.

They were found to have continued question trading targeting major CSAT subjects such as Science (6.62 billion KRW, 31.1%) and Mathematics (5.71 billion KRW, 26.8%).

The Board of Audit and Inspection explained, "Recently, as high-difficulty questions beyond the curriculum continue to be included in the CSAT, the discovery of such questions has become a key competitive advantage for private education companies, increasing demand for teachers capable of creating CSAT-aligned questions. Question trading occurred in one-on-one and organized forms between teachers and companies, spreading through mutual introductions."

High Number of Question Trades Among Teachers at Schools Concentrated with Large Private Education Companies

In particular, an active high school teacher, Mr. A, recruited a total of eight teachers with experience as examiners and reviewers in 2019 to form a question supply organization, selling about 2,000 questions to private education companies and instructors from that year until May 2023, receiving 660 million KRW, as confirmed by the audit results.

Also, high school teacher Mr. B formed a question production team of 36 active teachers after his spouse established Company C in 2019, selling questions to private education companies and others, generating nearly 1.9 billion KRW in sales for Company C from 2019 to 2022. Of this, he personally received 300 million KRW, and 110 million KRW was recorded as the company's operating profit.

Another teacher, Mr. D, who participated as a writer for EBS CSAT-linked textbooks since 2015, sold 8,000 questions to instructor Mr. E from that year until 2021, receiving 580 million KRW, as revealed by the audit results.

The Board of Audit and Inspection stated, "Among the 249 teachers confirmed to have traded questions with private education companies, 220 were notified to the Ministry of Education to take appropriate measures in consultation with metropolitan and provincial education offices. For 29 teachers judged to have committed serious misconduct, strict accountability was required, resulting in disciplinary requests for 8 teachers and misconduct notifications for 21 teachers."

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