Education Ministry vows action against 'killer' CSAT questions

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho addresses the press at the Central Government Complex in Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

The Ministry of Education vowed to end what it calls a vicious cycle of private academies profiteering from extremely difficult questions in college entrance exams.

“The Ministry of Education plans to conduct a two-week intensive investigation to look into any irregularities at private academies, such as the so-called existence of private education cartels and false and exaggerated advertisements by the academies,” said Lee Ju-ho, minister of education, in a press briefing on Wednesday.

Lee was referring to a systemic practice in which some extremely difficult questions at the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) are crafted by former test-makers, who would be in turn hired by private academies to teach there so the academies can charge extravagant tuitions.

Such a practice was said to have been criticized by President Yoon Suk Yeol during his meeting with the Education Ministry officials on June 15.

The administration has also ordered the ministry to do away with the so-called “killer questions” on the test.

“Such killer questions, which often deal with material external to the public education curricula, eventually drive parents and students to seek private education,” Lee said. “The ministry will be addressing this problem, but please be rest assured that this does not mean we will be equalizing the tests, to water them down. There are other ways to ensure that students who study hard can stand out in the tests.”

Lee also stressed that the ministry is not looking to equalize public and private education.

The former Moon Jae-in administration had vowed to end so-called elite schools, or private foreign language high schools and independent private high schools, much to the protest of some parents.

The Yoon administration, inaugurated last year, said it will keep these schools.

“We will maintain the status of private high schools, foreign language high schools, and international high schools, and stop the process to convert them into general high schools by 2025,” Lee said on Wednesday. “We will also work on regulations to ensure that these schools will have a fitting curriculum to nurture talent in our students.”

Though he did not elaborate in detail, Lee added that the ministry will also work on strengthening language education for students from multiethnic families and international students.

“We plan to strengthen the multicultural education system so that a culture of mutual respect can be formed in our multicultural society,” he said.

Possible changes to the CSAT gained recent national attention after Yoon called the killer questions on the test “absurd and inappropriate” and demanded the tests be amended to more reflect the content of the public education curricula.

The CSAT takes place once a year, in November, and is a national phenomenon as even police officers aid the students to get to the test centers on time in the morning and airplanes stop flying during the hours when the students have to take their listening tests in English.

The ministry also announced Wednesday that starting in 2025, high school students will be able to have more freedom to design curricula around their subjects of interest.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]