 Students study at a hagwon, or private cram school, in this file photo. The drive for better grades is pushing some students and their parents to illegal tutoring. Effective though it may be, it’s still against the law. / Korea Times |
By Han Sang-hee
Parents and students will do almost anything when it comes to getting higher grades, even if it means paying a ridiculously large amount of money and going against the law.
It is known that exorbitantly expensive private tutoring — in many cases illegal — is rampant in affluent Gangnam in southern Seoul.
To crack down on this underground private tutoring, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SOME) conducted an investigation centered on Gangnam since last August.
Of the illegal cases it uncovered, it made public a large-scale, organized tutoring case where a “chief tutor” hired 15 others, and charged parents of high school students up to as much as 10 million won ($8,000).
This case is just the tip of the iceberg and illegal tutoring is expected to continue to boom, capitalizing on the steady demand from rich parents while evading the occasional crackdowns by the authorities.
Behind the scenes
According to SMOE, a 35-year old tutor identified by his surname Oh, leased three apartments in Gangnam and offered illegal private tutoring with the 15, some of whom were regaled as “star tutors.” Oh himself was a well known math teacher and also taught students.
Photos that were released by the district office showed how Oh operated his illegal “hagwon.”
It looked any other home, except for the fact that the rooms were made into a library, with individual desks where students could study. According to the office, such cram schools are mostly located in normal apartments or studio apartments.
“It’s considered safer because such places use card keys or even have security locks that use passwords instead of keys,” said an official from the district office, adding that this makes it more difficult to find them.
The students paid 1.7 million for math per month, while tuition for English, Korean, science and social sciences was one million. Classes were held eight times a month at 90 minutes per class.
When the investigation team approached the scene, there were more than 30 students studying, including a high school student whose parents paid 10 million won for one month.
What makes it illegal?
Private tutoring is not at news for Korean households, as it is as popular as cram schools, or hagwon. But in this case, this was more than simply visiting a student, or vice versa, and teaching subjects: it was a systemized hagwon that took place privately at an independent venue other than the tutor’s or student’s home.
“The most surprising aspect was the tuition, which ranged from 5 million won to even 10 million won per month. But this is a relative issue. For some, this amount could be acceptable, but for many others, it may seem too much,” said Cheong Jae-heon from SMOE.
Cheong explained that the problem was not the money, but the fact that Oh hired tutors and operated an actual hagwon without reporting it to the education office.
There are currently three categories that are included in the Private Institute Law: hagwon, training schools and private tutoring.
The law indicates that hagwon can have more than 10 students, while training schools must have nine or less.
In the case of private tutoring, there are no legal standards in terms of the number of students, but it must be held at either the student’s home or the tutor’s residence. Private tutoring cannot be given at any other place, including studio apartments.
“In the case of Oh, he basically operated a hagwon in a studio apartment without reporting it to the education office and this violates the law. This is actually the first time we found a tutor who hired 15 teachers and held classes at three different apartments for some 30 students,” Cheong said.
The education office pressed charges against all those involved, and shut down the hagwon. The students and parents were not charged.
