English teacher Jo Jeong-sik, 42, has been sent to the prosecution for allegedly paying tens of millions of won to a current teacher to purchase mock exam questions for an academy.
According to the investigative reporting media 'Sherlock' on the 11th, the Board of Audit and Inspection discovered that Jo purchased questions for private mock exams from 21 current teachers. Jo was sent to the prosecution on charges of violating the Act on the Prohibition of Improper Solicitation and Interference with Business on the 17th of last month without detention.
It is reported that Teacher A provided questions to Jo for a total of 58 million won from January 2021 to October 2023. In addition to Teacher A, who has been writing EBS exam preparation materials since 2009, it is known that among the teachers with whom Jo conducted transactions are others with experience creating questions for EBS exam preparation materials and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's national academic assessment.
The allegations of questionable transactions by Jo arose from the college entrance exam conducted in November 2022. At that time, it was claimed that question 23, worth 3 points, was identical to the passage provided in Jo's private mock exam, except for one sentence. This is an excerpt from 'Too Much Information (TMI)', authored by Cass Sunstein, a professor at Harvard Law School and the author of 'Nudge'.
Over 100 objections have been filed with the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation. The objectors claim that students who had already solved the private mock exam provided by Jo and attended explanation lectures would inevitably have an advantage in the exam.
The Ministry of Education has requested an investigation regarding Jo and others, and the Board of Audit and Inspection has also commenced an audit. According to the Board, Jo received questions from another teacher who is friendly with the original author of the 'TMI' passage and produced a mock exam that was delivered to students at the end of September.
There are criticisms that the verification by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation was insufficient. The institute did not purchase Jo's mock exam without valid reasons in the 2023 academic year, failing to filter out the questions that appeared in the private mock exams. There was also no review process for the objections submitted. The institute only explained the controversy over similar passages by claiming, 'It is simply a coincidence.'
The Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Division sent 72 current teachers who engaged in transactions with academies to the prosecution on the 17th of last month. Three private education corporations and 11 academy instructors were also sent to the prosecution. Jo's legal representative reportedly conveyed to Sherlock that they did not acknowledge the transaction of questions.