By Kim Bo-eun
Foreign schools caught committing admission fraud four times will be banned from recruiting Korean students, the Ministry of Education said Thursday.
Considering Koreans make up more than half of the students in many foreign schools here, the penalty will virtually mean a shutdown, a ministry official said. Currently, Koreans can gain admission if they have lived overseas for a minimum of three years.
The ministry said the regulations on the establishment and management of foreign schools and kindergartens will change.
After collecting public opinion and further review, the ministry aims for the new rule to take effect by July.
According to the new measures, a foreign school accepting unqualified Korean students will face different penalties depending on how many times the school is found to have done this.
For the first violation, the education authorities will issue a correction order. For the second, the school will be suspended from recruiting Korean students for six to 12 months and for the third time, 13 to 24 months. On a fourth violation, it will be banned from recruiting any Korean students and will be only allowed to accept foreign students.
Foreign schools are required to keep the ratio of Korean students among the total quota at below 30 percent. But many schools have far short numbers of students than the total quota, and the ratio of Korean students among attending students at some schools reach nearly 80 percent.
According to current regulations, when admissions fraud is uncovered, parents can face criminal punishment and the student can be expelled. But there have been no punishments for the schools that accept the students.
“We expect the revisions to alert the schools to the violations and have them assume greater social responsibility,” the ministry official said.
There are currently 43 foreign schools in Korea, which were established for children of foreign residents and Koreans who return to their home country after living abroad.
The Incheon District Prosecutor's Office indicted 55 parents on charges of fraud in their children’s admission into foreign schools between August 2012 and April 2013. Some parents forged their nationality and documents on their children’s academic background.
Foreign schools are favored among wealthy parents as a form of elite education.
The revision also includes regulations that allow naturalized Koreans such as children of marriage migrants to enter foreign schools if they have difficulty adjusting to regular schools here.