By Yun Suh-young
In an inspection of 28 private academies offering SAT lessons in the Gangnam area in southern Seoul, 18 were found to have disregarded relevant laws, the education ministry said Sunday.
The academies broke the law by failing to make public the recruitment or the dismissal of teachers, failing to properly announce tuition fees, manipulating account books and failing to register as SAT institutes to avoid paying taxes.
The ministry didn’t release the names of the academies.
The ministry and the Seoul Gangnam District Office of Education conducted a joint inspection from July 12 to Aug. 10.
About 40 percent of the academies failed to inform students of the personal information of their instructors, such as academic background, or their previous work experience to the education authorities.
The ministry said the institutes are required to provide such information to students and parents.
“Private institutes must verify the academic credentials of instructors and this must be advertised. Foreign instructors must submit records of their career as teachers and prove that they have no criminal records before starting work at the institutes. Such rules were ignored in many cases by the academies located in Gangnam,” said an official from the Seoul Gangnam District Office of Education.
“We will strengthen monitoring of the institutes in the summer because many high school students visit during their summer vacation to study for the SAT here.”
Some academies were found to charge 42,000 to 48,000 won per hour in tuition, five to six times higher than the standard rate set by the education office_ 7,600 won per hour for Korean instructors and 10,031 won for foreign instructors. These academies received official warnings and were fined.
The education ministry ordered a correction of information to four institutes and gave warnings to 14 others for other violations, according to the education office.