A student strolls through the cram school district of Daechi-dong in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, absorbed in a book. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Mar. 11 (Korea Bizwire) –The Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea has confirmed allegations of a so-called ‘private education cartel,’ involving active teachers providing mock test questions to private education companies in exchange for monetary compensation.
The audit, conducted from September last year over a three-month period, scrutinized the involvement of educators in the private education market, culminating in the identification of 56 individuals, including teachers and cram school associates, suspected of misconduct.
These individuals are now subject to investigation, facing charges of violating the Anti-Graft Law, obstruction of business, and embezzlement.
Among those being investigated are individuals linked to the controversy surrounding the 23rd English question of the 2023 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT).
The issue came to light when a passage from a commercial mock test prepared by a renowned instructor at a major prep school appeared identically in the CSAT question.
The Audit Board discovered that a high school teacher had submitted a question titled ‘Too Much Information’ (TMI) for inclusion in an EBS-linked CSAT prep book due for publication in January 2023.
A university professor, having reviewed the EBS material in August 2022 and later participating in the 2023 CSAT English question setting committee, unlawfully used the TMI passage as the basis for question 23.
Renowned instructor B, known for purchasing questions from teachers for mock tests, obtained the TMI-based question through another teacher C, who was acquainted with the original submitter.
This resulted in the release of a mock test containing the disputed passage by the end of September, sparking the ‘CSAT English Question 23′ controversy, mimicking the instructor’s mock test.
Further, the audit revealed transactions between multiple teachers involved in setting CSAT questions or contributing to EBS CSAT prep materials and private education firms.
For instance, high school teacher D, who had participated in several CSAT and mock CSAT review committees, established a question supply network with eight other teachers encountered during question-setting retreats.
From 2019 to May 2023, this network produced over 2,000 mock CSAT questions reflecting the exam’s trends, supplying them to private education companies and famous instructors, in return for 660 million won. Out of this sum, 390 million won was distributed among the involved teachers, with the remaining 270 million won pocketed by D.
The Board of Audit and Inspection plans to take stern disciplinary actions against the audited teachers found to have received monetary gains from these transactions, following the Audit Committee’s decision.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
