Major cram schools face probe for buying exam questions from public teachers

People are seen walking past Megastudy's headquarters in Seoul on June 28. Newsis

The so-called “big three” private education businesses ― Megastudy, Sidae Injae and Daesung Hagwon ― are currently facing respective police investigations over cases of possible collusion, where they allegedly bought exam questions from school teachers who had served as test writers for the state-administered College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT).

The annual CSAT is the national college entrance exam, which is regarded as one of the most important academic events here, as it largely decides the outcome of 12 years of intense study for many Korean students who desire to enter top universities.

According to sources in the education sector, Wednesday, the three cram school chains were included in a list of 21 private education service providers, which the Ministry of Education wants to investigate due to suspicions of violating anti-graft laws.

On Sept. 19, the ministry requested police to investigate 21 private education institutes for allegedly having bought exam questions from 22 school teachers, who participated in creating CSAT and mock CSAT tests over the last five years.

At the time, the ministry also asked for an investigation into these 22 teachers, as all CSAT test writers, by law, are obliged to keep all test-related information confidential.

Other than cram schools, several “star lecturers,” including Hyun Woo-jin, a popular lecturer teaching mathematics, as well as publishers of teaching materials operated by these lecturers were included in the scope of the investigations.

Regarding the issue, an education ministry official said, “I am not at liberty to confirm the names of the companies and lecturers, as investigations by police and the Board of Audit and Inspection are currently ongoing.”

The investigations on alleged collusion between public and private educators come as part of the government’s efforts to reduce private education expenses for ordinary households.

According to the sources, popular cram schools usually ask students to pay more than 2 million won ($1,470) in monthly tuition and a separate 1 million won for the teaching materials.

Hyun, earlier, said that he paid 13 billion won in income taxes in 2017. This indicated that he earns some 20 billion won a year, higher than the annual salary of football star Son Heung-min who reportedly earned some 17.7 billion won this year.

On June 15, President Yoon Suk Yeol severely criticized what he described as a “cartel” within the education industry, referring to cases in which major cram schools and popular lecturers pay huge amounts of money to public school teachers in return for receiving exam questions, and earn a great deal of money after selling those questions to students.

The president said this practice has increased students’ reliance on private cram schools and placed a financial burden on parents, while ruining public education. At the time, Yoon ordered the education ministry to exclude anything from tests that is not taught at schools from the CSAT to produce a fairer exam.

Days after Yoon’s remarks, the National Tax Service launched a special tax investigation into major private tutoring institutions, including Megastudy.

The reform of the education sector is one of the top three reforms being pursued by the Yoon administration, along with labor and pension sectors.