Police are investigating 75 cases of suspected collusion between private academies and high school teachers who served as test makers for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and mock CSAT exams, the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) said Monday.
The 75 cases include 15 cases reported by the Ministry of Education, a KNPA official said in a media briefing, noting investigations into other cases were launched after the police received their own intelligence or individuals filed complaints.
The ministry said last month that 24 teachers were caught selling exam questions to private academies, either before or after serving as test makers for the CSAT and mock CSAT exams, in violation of the current laws. It then filed criminal complaints against four of the teachers on charges of obstruction of business and asked for an investigation into 22 of them on suspicion of violating anti-graft laws. The ministry also requested an investigation of 21 private education companies suspected of buying exam ques
tions from the teachers. All CSAT test makers are obliged by law to keep all test-related information confidential.
The KNPA official said six of the 75 cases are classified as cartels, and the rest can be described as cases of “administrative irregularities.” The official added that the number of suspects is far bigger than the number of cases under investigation.
In a related move, police investigators raided a renowned private academy in southern Seoul last Wednesday to secure evidence on its alleged collusion with teachers.
The latest crackdown on suspicious collusion between public and private educators came as part of the government’s efforts to reduce private education expenses through a fair CSAT and by eliminating extremely difficult questions from the test.
Source: Yonhap News Agency