This July 2, 2023, file photo shows signs of private institutes in southern Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly 300 current teachers have reported their involvement in profitable activities associated with private educational companies, including selling exam questions and creating study materials, the education ministry said Monday.
Among them, 45 people acknowledged receiving over 50 million won (US$37,260) from companies over the course of five years, including a teacher who reported earning 490 million won from such activities.
The ministry conducted a self-reporting period spanning two weeks, from Aug. 1 to 14, during which teachers disclosed their engagements in for-profit activities connected with private institutes and other educational entities over the past five years.
The measure was prompted by reports that some educators were supplying exceptionally challenging exam questions to private companies in exchange for significant monetary compensation.
Earlier in June, the government announced the annual college entrance examination would exclude so-called “killer” questions, which often fall outside the scope of the public school curriculum and have often been blamed for students’ increased reliance on private tutoring.
The ministry said a total of 297 teachers reported their activities in 768 instances, comprising 537 cases of creating mock exams, 92 of developing educational materials, 92 of teaching and consulting services, and 47 other cases.
Among them, 188 people involved in 341 instances were not granted permission for concurrent positions, the ministry said.
The highest earner is a math teacher at a private high school in Gyeonggi Province, who reported receiving a total of 480 million won over five years in exchange for creating mock exam questions for seven major academies and instructors.
A chemistry teacher from a private high school in Seoul admitted to selling test questions to two cram institutes for a sum of 382.4 million won.
A geography teacher at a public high school in Seoul reported receiving 300.55 million won from five institutes in exchange for questions.
The ministry said it will take disciplinary measures for teachers involved in irregularities, including those lacking concurrent position permissions or receiving excessive remuneration.
If educators who have been involved in the production of the state-run College Scholastic Ability Test or mock exams are found to have created questions for private companies, they could potentially face prosecution, it added.
(Yonhap)
