Following a weeklong debate on the difficulty of so-called high-level “killer questions” in the Suneung, South Korea’s state-administered college entrance exam, local high school teachers said Tuesday that the killer questions are “arduously difficult,” requiring university-level knowledge beyond the scope of high school students. The math section, which delves into complex equations and requires students to solve short-answer questions without a calculator, is for

Social Affairs June 27, 2023

The Education Ministry on Monday unveiled a set of comprehensive plans to alleviate private education costs for students, starting with setting up a ministry-led committee comprising public school teachers to adjust the difficulty level of the Suneung, the nation’s college entrance exam. Calling it a way of restoring the fairness of the test, the committee will eliminate the so-called “killer questions” in the exams starting from this year, saying the difficulty level of such q

Social Affairs June 26, 2023

한국 드라마, 케이팝, 문화와 콘텐츠 등이 선풍적인 인기를 끌면서 한국어를 배우고자 하는 외국인의 수요도 급속히 늘어났지만, 한국어 교육 현장에 체계적인 지원을 담당하는 정부 “컨트롤 타워”는 없었다. 이주호 교육부 장관 겸 사회부총리는 최근 코리아헤럴드와의 인터뷰에서 교육부가 이 역할을 맡아 주도적으로 한국어 지원 체계를 설립, 확장하겠다고 밝혔다. 이 장관은 한국의 높아진 경제, 문화, 외교적 위상에 따라 한국어 교육 수요도 지속적으로 증가하고 있는 추세라고 말하며 교육부가 관계 부처와 기관의 역량을 총체적으로 결집하여, 보다 적극적인 교육 체계 구축을 이끌겠다고 말했다. “문체부, 외교부, 이민청, 법무부 등 다양한 부처랑 조율해서 한국을 (더 많이) 알리고, (교육부도) 변화를 준비하고 있다”라고 설명하면서 “부처 간의 협력, 연계가 미약하다는 지적을 받고 있는데, (외국인을 위한 한국어 교육을) 잘 수용할 수 있는 체

한국어판 June 26, 2023

The South Korean Education Ministry’s decision to exclude the high-level “killer questions” from the Suneung, the state-administered college entrance exam, has once again rekindled debate regarding the test’s difficulty. Arguably one of the toughest exams in the world, Korea’s College Scholastic Ability Test, commonly known as the Suneung, has played a pivotal role for decades in measuring students’ potential achievement in the future after enrolling in colleg

Social Affairs June 25, 2023

The Education Ministry said Thursday it has teamed up the police and the market watchdog, the Fair Trade Commission, to identify irregularities in operations of, hagwon, or private academies and institutions nationwide for next two weeks. The ministry started receiving reports on hagwon that provide one-on-one classes, run false advertisements, promote excessive spending on private education, and charge separately for textbooks. The reports can be filed on the Education Ministry's website u

Social Affairs June 22, 2023

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said Wednesday the ministry will start receiving reports on irregularities in the private education industry as part of education reforms aimed at reducing the nation’s reliance on private schools and academies. The reports received by the Education Ministry will cover speculations over former test examiners providing private academies with insider information about the national college entrance exam, as well as cases of false advertising. Announcing a set of m

Social Affairs June 21, 2023

South Korea needs a “control tower” to oversee and better manage the operation of education institutes as well as a system for Korean language learning, Education Minister Lee Ju-ho told The Korea Herald, vowing to speed up efforts to integrate state capacity currently dispersed across the related ministries. “There are criticisms that government bodies haven’t been able to cooperate and coordinate well with each other at a time when interest in the Korean language is gro

Hello Hangeul June 20, 2023

South Korea’s state-administered college entrance exam, Suneung, will only cover materials taught in class from this year onward, excluding the so-called high-difficulty level “killer questions,” the government said Monday, sending a clear signal that it has started education sector reforms. At the consultation meeting held between the government and the ruling People Power Party, Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said the killer questions, which often test high schoolers above thei

Politics June 19, 2023

South Korea is expected to see more precipitation this summer. With “jangma,” or the monsoon season, just around the corner, concerns have been growing fast not just because of the possibility of heavy rainfall ruining the hard-earned summer holidays but because of lessons learned from last year. The country was deluged with severely heavy rains last year, leaving nine dead, hundreds in Seoul displaced and over 2,800 buildings damaged. This year, experts advise not to panic, even if

Social Affairs June 17, 2023

South Korea’s Vice Education Minister Jang Sang-yoon said Friday that the Education Ministry would audit the institution overseeing Suneung, the nation’s scholastic aptitude test, to assess the exam's fairness. Jang said the ministry would team up with the Office for Government Policy Coordination regarding when and whom it would audit, as the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation is a government body operating under the OPC, not the Education Ministry. The ministry declined t

Politics June 16, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s instruction to the chief of the Education Ministry on Thursday was not intended to mean that Suneung, or the nation’s scholastic aptitude test, should be “made easier,” his senior press secretary said Friday. “President Yoon Suk Yeol was not talking about an ‘easy Suneung’ or a ‘hard Suneung’ to Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, yesterday,” senior presidential secretary for press affairs, Kim Eun-hye, told reporter

Politics June 16, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday ordered the Education Ministry to come up with measures to alleviate parents' financial burden on private education spending and to have the Suneung, the nation's scholastic aptitude test, only include materials taught in schools' classrooms. Speaking to reporters at the presidential office, Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said the ministry will come up with relevant measures as ordered by the president. The announcement came as South Korea sees a

Politics June 15, 2023

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has been tapped as the co-president of the World Association of the Major Metropolises at the 14th Metropolis World Congress, the city government said Thursday. Oh will lead the committee for from 2024 to 2026, along with five other co-presidents from the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, China’s Guangzhou, Uruguay’s Montevideo, Iran’s Tehran and Belgium's Brussels-Capital Region, the city added. The city government said being able to co-lead the associat

Social Affairs June 15, 2023

진행자: 박준희, Beth Eunhee Hong [1] [Herald Interview] Minister turns to AI classes to cool competition in education 기사 요약: 이주호 교육부 장관, “AI 디지털 교과서 활용으로 주어진 문제에 대한 답을 하는 학생이 아닌 질문할 수 있는 인재 양성할 것” Education Minister Lee Ju-ho is attempting to change the course of South Korea’s education system by adopting artificial intelligence technology in all public school classrooms, which the minister claims will transform the nation’s hypercompetitive education culture and make

Podcast June 15, 2023

Seoul National University’s disciplinary committee said Tuesday that it has decided to expel former Justice Minister Cho Kuk from the school's law faculty, citing the court decision that sentenced him to two years in prison for abusing his power and influence. The decision comes after he was removed from his teaching position in January 2020. He was indicted without detention on Dec. 31, 2019, on 12 charges, including for bribery and corruption, over his involvement in his children&rs

Social Affairs June 13, 2023