Foreign school hit for defying shut-down order

By Lee Kyung-min

Centennial Christian School International (CCSI) is coming under criticism for allegedly accepting new students despite a government order for it to shut down.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education in March ordered the school in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, to shut down by the end of June, after it failed to follow numerous correction orders.

However, according to Hankyoreh, a Korean-language newspaper, the school said it still accepts new students and parents are welcome to visit for admissions consultation.

The city’s education office as well as the Jungbu District Office of Education, under whose jurisdiction the school falls, said the Yongsan Police Station is investigating the allegation.

“Yongsan police are investigating the school for failing to halt operation as ordered. Additional measures will be taken in accordance with the police findings,” said an official at the district education office.

This comes less than a month after the city’s education office began an extensive probe into 21 international schools in Seoul to check on whether they committed fraud involving admissions, accounting and management.

If fraud is confirmed in the school admissions, students will face expulsion, and the school will be subject to a correction order, the office said.

In 2012, the CCSI operator, surnamed Song, failed to seek approval from the authorities before he handed over his managerial right to a man, surnamed Park, who was unqualified to run a school.

Under the law, foreign schools can be set up and managed only by foreign residents in Korea or by Koreans who returned here after living abroad. Park was neither.

The education office said Park hired his son as the administration department head, and hired a vice principal at a Gyeonggi-based foreign language high school as the school principal.

Park set up a number of additional education centers using the CCSI brand, and accepted unqualified students charging the same amount of tuition and taught them using the same curricula as the CCSI.

Under the law, admissions to international schools are barred for Korean students who had not lived abroad for at least three years.

The office shut down the center on June 3, and asked the prosecution and tax office to investigate the school over alleged tax evasion, misappropriation of school funds and four other irregularities.

The international schools are favored among affluent parents, who try to provide elite educations for their children.

CCSI staff was unavailable for comment.