The South Korean government on Sunday unveiled a plan to tighten monitoring of cram schools and study facilities ahead of the first national college entrance scheduled to take place during the new coronavirus pandemic. The exam, held annually in November, was postponed as school schedules were affected by the unprecedented virus outbreak. It was eventually scheduled for Dec. 3. Under the plan, the education ministry and provincial governments will inspect whether cram schools and study cafes a

A court ruled in favor of a local education office that dismissed a middle school ethics teacher for showing a film with nudity to students during class. The Gwangju District Court on Thursday dismissed a complaint from Bae-Lee Sang-heun filed against the Gwangju educational authority, which asked for the cancellation of his dismissal from a teaching position. The court said the dismissal is valid, as some students felt sexually offended and disturbed by the screening, and that Bae-Lee did no

Preemptive government measures prevent worst child care void

More than 6,000 after-school care attendants are expected to launch a strike Friday in protest against proposed changes to school child care management and their employment status, sparking fears of a major disruption in child care services. A coalition of nonregular school workers said in a press briefing Thursday that more than half of its 12,000 members working as care workers at schools are expected to join the one-day strike. The collective action is aimed at blocking a legislative revi

It is a privilege, on behalf of Seoul Foreign School and our Communications and Marketing team, to accept this honor from The Korea Herald celebrating our efforts in educational advertising.  Seoul Foreign School is an international school in Seoul established in 1912. Home to more than 1,450 students, SFS offers a 109-year legacy of educational excellence.  SFS is a Pre-K 2-12 International Baccalaureate World School and Foundation to Year 9 British School for students ranging in ag

Thousands of after-school care attendants are threatening a one-day strike Friday, demanding better working conditions. A coalition of nonregular school workers announced Wednesday that more than a quarter of its 13,000 members working as after-school care providers are expected to join the walkout. That is about 3,300 workers at 2,200 elementary schools nationwide. The planned action is to block a legislative revision that would make after-school care a community-level project planned and ma

Even COVID-19 patients and those with symptoms won’t have to miss the life-defining Suneung, Education Ministry says

Seoul will provide all first-year students in the city’s middle and high schools with a one-off stipend of 300,000 won ($265), starting from next year, the city‘s education office announced Thursday. “When children advance to middle or high schools, households have to provide them with new uniforms, textbooks, stationery items and, in the coronavirus situation, smart devices,” said Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon, explaining the stipen

Nearly 80 students and college admission consultants have been nabbed on charges of producing ghostwritten essays and other papers for writing competitions, which were later used to embellish college entrance applications, according to police Thursday. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it has booked 18 workers at a college admission consulting institute in southern Seoul and 60 students involved in the organized scam that spanned from June 2017 to July of last year. Among the suspects,

A former high school counselor suspected of leaking copies of a US college entrance exam was arrested in Seoul late Tuesday night. The man, identified only by the surname Lee, is under police investigation for allegedly taking photos of US Scholastic Aptitude Test papers for three years beginning in 2017 while he was working as a career counselor at the Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies, a high school in Gyeonggi Province, and selling them to a broker. The broker, arrested last month, is alleg

A local court on Tuesday began reviewing whether to issue an arrest warrant for a high school counselor suspected of leaking test papers for a US college entrance exam. The Seoul Central District Court is expected to reach a decision Wednesday. The suspect is a former career counselor for the Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies, a prestigious boarding high school in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Police accuse him of selling photos of US Scholastic Aptitude Test papers to a broker for three years

Five South Korean educational institutions are partnering with the Asian Development Bank to improve the quality of education in the region. They are the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, the Korean Educational Development Institute, the Korea Education and Research Information Service, the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, and the National Education Training Institute. Under the memorandum of understanding signed Tuesday, the six parties will collabo

South Korean students will take in-person classes more often starting this week, as attendance cap restrictions in schools have been eased amid a recent drop in new coronavirus cases. The Ministry of Education raised the attendance cap, currently at one-third in elementary and middle schools, and two-thirds in high schools, to two-thirds for all schools last Sunday, in line with the government's relaxed social distancing rules nationwide. The new measure goes into effect on Monday. The minis

Six universities, including the nation’s most prestigious Seoul National University, were found to have breached the government-set evaluation standards in their portfolio-based admissions process, the Education Ministry said Wednesday. The six caught with rule breaches in the ministry’s special inspection from Nov. 13-Dec. 6 are Seoul National, Korea, Sogang, Sungkyunkwan, Kyung Hee and Konkuk universities. The probe into the six institutions’ past admission records was a fol

Schools in South Korea will raise their attendance caps for schools in line with the recent easing of social distancing guidelines. Many hope this will narrow the achievement gap among students from different socioeconomic backgrounds, which has widened since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. The Education Ministry announced Sunday that all schools will be allowed to have two-thirds of their students attend classes in person starting Oct. 19. Currently, attendance is capped at two-thirds