South Korean education board probes cram schools after exam leaks
Revelations of cheating had led to cancellation of US entrance tests in score-obsessed nation
South Korean officials yesterday launched an investigation into cram schools after a cheating scandal that led to the nationwide cancellation of US university entrance exams this month.
The education office in the capital Seoul started the special probe into a number of private academies suspected of illegally obtaining questions for the SAT and leaking them to pupils, a spokesman said.
The administrator of the SAT - the most widely used test for applying to US universities - scrapped the scheduled May 4 exams after discovering questions were already circulating among some test-prep schools.
The College Board also cancelled subject tests in biology scheduled for next month.
"The moral hazard prevalent among some SAT prep schools has reached a serious level," the Seoul education office said in a statement, criticising school operators for "tarnishing the national reputation and harming innocent applicants".
The moral hazard prevalent among some SAT prep schools has reached a serious level