By Lee Suh-yoon
The Police have opened an investigation of a high school in Gangnam, southern Seoul, about allegations that one of its head teachers leaked exam questions to his twin daughters attending his school.
According to Suseo Police Station on Monday, the police are examining the girls' exam papers and other evidence submitted by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SOME), which conducted its own inspection recently into Sookmyung Girls' High School. After reviewing the evidence, the police may summon those under suspicion for questioning.
The education office announced the results of its own probe last Wednesday, saying the head teacher examined the exam papers, which his daughters were supposed to take, six times to approve the questions. The SMOE also said it would penalize him along with the headmaster and the daughters' homeroom teachers for “damaging the fairness” of the tests.
Both of the twin daughters recorded the highest final exam scores in their grades. As the controversy deepened, the head teacher rebutted the allegations, saying his two daughters raised their grades by studying hard and sleeping only four hours a day.
In response to this recent scandal, the Ministry of Education announced last month that high school teachers will be banned from working at schools attended by their children. But whether the rule can be enforced is unknown because the ministry cannot force private schools to follow it.