Private institutes for SAT under probe

By Bahk Eun-ji

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said Tuesday it launched an inspection of private academies providing classes in Gangnam to prepare for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) after it was alleged some academies had access to the test questions.

“The inspection will focus on illegal collection and leaks of test questions, hiring unqualified instructors, and charging excessive fees,” said Cho Sung-nam, head of the division in charge of policy for private institutes of SMOE.

The inspection will run until the end of May and SMOE plans to request investigation of the institutes alleged to be involved. The education office will cancel the license of the academies found to be culpable of illegalities.

The inspection came after the organizer of the SAT decided to cancel the May SAT test in Korea due to suspicion the questions had been leaked.

“The cancellation of the SAT for May in Korea destroyed the reputation and furthermore, students who have prepared to study abroad were also damaged, so we decided to take strong administrative action against the violations,” Cho said.