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For most Korean students..., private tutoring is not an option,... it's a requirement...
to ensure they don't fall behind. But,... President Park Geun-hye wants that
to change..., and the education ministry, in its status report to the president... unveiled
measures to that end on this Thursday. Our presidential office correspondent Eoh
Jin-joo reports. In an effort to reduce private tutoring and get students more focused on
their schooling, the government will force universities to
give a zero-mark on applications that include awards or certificates received outside of
school. These will include TOEFL or other English
language test scores, math and science Olympiad awards, and extracurricular education prizes
received from private institutions. During the education ministry's status report
on Thursday,... President Park emphasized the need to keep the education system from
pushing students to take upper grade courses in advance... in an attempt to reduce mounting
private tutoring expenses in the country. She ordered the ministry to reduce private
tutoring expenses for English language education, in particular, as it account for one-third
of the money spent on private education.
"I think there need to be fundamental reforms to the educational environment that demands
students take excessive English language courses."
The president also slammed the culture and sports ministry, which gave a status report
along with the education ministry on Thursday,... and ordered them to look into what caused
Korean short-track speedskating star Ahn Hyun-soo, who won a bronze medal at the Sochi Winter
Olympics on Monday, to change his nationality.
"We should look into whether irrationalities and systematic disorders in the sports world,
such as factionalism and corruption among referees, are leading to problems like the
one that affected Ahn Hyun-soo."
Ahn won three Olympic gold medals for Korea in 2006, but became a naturalized Russian
citizen in 2011 after failing to qualify for the national team ahead of the 2010 Vancouver
Winter Olympics. Ahn's family claims that was due to fractional
feuds in the sports sector.
"President Park called for a system in which athletes could be evaulated based solely on
their performance and one in which the fairness of referees was guaranteed. She ordered the
ministry to come up with measures to root out corruption in the sports arena.
Eoh Jin-joo, Arirang News."