Korean authorities committed to breaking up private education cartels

Lee Ju-ho, deputy prime minister for social affairs and minister of education, is watching the release of the killer questions of the CSAT in Seoul on June 26. [Photo by Yonhap]

The South Korean government has introduced measures to reduce heavy dependence on private providers in the education, focusing on reforming the university entrance examination and easing the burden on the public due to the huge cost of private education. The government also reiterated its commitment to cracking down on illegal private education and breaking up cartels between private businesses and education bureaucrats.

The measures, announced by the Ministry of Education on Monday, come as the total amount spent on private education hit a record 26 trillion won ($20 billion) last year and distrust of school education is on the rise.

It is the first time in nine years that the government has taken comprehensive measures against private education. However, there are no specific measures to address concerns that the exclusion of fiendishly difficult questions in the scholastic aptitude test and other college entrance exams will lead to a decline in test discrimination, so high-school students and parents remain confused.

At the heart of today’s announcement is the removal of killer questions to ensure that the scholastic aptitude test remains at an appropriate level of difficulty so that students who have worked hard throughout their schooling can be fairly assessed on the test.

The focus of the measures announced on Monday is to remove the killer questions to ensure that the Korean College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT) remains at an appropriate level of difficulty so that students who have worked hard throughout their schooling can be fairly assessed on the test.

The ministry analyzed the Korean language, math and English sections of the CSAT for the last three years and came up with a total of 22 killer questions as examples.

To ensure that the test is appropriately challenging, the ministry said it will create an advisory committee within the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation centered on high school teachers to advise before and after the test. At the test-making stage, the ministry will also create an inspection committee of teachers to monitor test questions.

From next year, the ministry will also consider organizing a panel to create test questions around high school teachers rather than university professors, the ministry said.

“We will definitely break the vicious cycle of killer questions, private education and excessive economic burden on students and parents,” said Lee Ju-ho, deputy prime minister for social affairs and minister of education.

“There are several reports coming into the ministry right now” regarding private education cartels, the presidential office said on the same day, adding that “If there is a need for law enforcement, we can think about that as well.”