By Kim Rahn
Seoul’s educations authorities are seeking to strengthen regulations on foreign schools through rule changes, following a recent revelation that some of them were embroiled by admissions frauds.
Officials of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said Sunday they have proposed the government amend related laws to properly deal with fraud and other irregularities found at foreign schools.
The recent scandal has at least three schools under investigation for admitting Korean students who obtained foreign nationality status through illegal means.
“Several schools newly opened in recent years, and the quota for Koreans in foreign schools changed three years ago. We need to regularly check whether they are following rules,” an SMOE official said.
“But related laws are exempting foreign schools from inspection and there is no punitive measures for admission fraud. So, it is difficult for us to supervise such schools effectively, and we asked the education ministry to revise related laws during a meeting on Thursday,” he said.
Foreign schools have a lot of autonomy including determining the curriculum, staff employment, facility management and accounting. But for admission, they should follow a presidential decree: In the case of Koreans, those who have stayed overseas for at least three years are entitled to apply; and the number of Korean students is limited to 30 percent of the total, but can be expanded to 50 percent if the related regional education office allows it.
But there is no punishment for schools that don’t keep the admission rule.
“We seek a system that can respect foreign schools’ autonomy and make them fulfill their obligation at the same time,” the official said.
Since a Japanese School in Seoul was established in 1972, there have been 22 foreign schools set up in the capital. They were first categorized as foreign organizations under the Immigration Law but were recognized as schools following the revision of the Education Law in 2001.
Despite the revision, regional educational offices didn’t have the authority to supervise the schools until 2009 when the presidential decree was made. But most of the schools have never undergone an inspection.
According to Rep. Kim Tae-won of the Saenuri Party, Korean students account for more than 30 percent of the total quota at nine foreign schools nationwide, with one school in central Seoul filling 60 percent of the quota with Koreans.
Since the beginning of September, at least three schools are being investigated over cases of admissions fraud.
Prosecutors have questioned more than 60 parents over the allegation that they enabled their children to enter the schools by fabricating enrollment documents about their nationalities and periods of overseas living through middlemen in return at a cost of 50 to 100 million won per child.
Most of the children were from families in high-income brackets living in the affluent Gangnam district, including chaebol offspring.
The prosecution raided the schools as well as overseas study agencies run by the middlemen.