Article 20100928 contributed by Rho Inseon

 

Illegal Gangnam tutor made 150 million won a month

2010-09-19 17:47

· Voiceware

Despite efforts by education offices to cut down on illegal private lessons and reinforce public education, students and parents seem largely reliant on private tutoring, often at extravagant prices.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and police recently caught an illicit undercover private tutoring class after a seven-month-long probe. A private tutor was arrested for giving expensive illegal lessons at his apartment in Gangnam, a southern Seoul district notorious for its overheated educational competition.

Although this was the first case in years that education officials clamped down on, illegal tutoring is thought to be still rampant in the affluent and education-fevered Gangnam and Mok-dong areas.

The arrested tutor earned up to 150 million won ($129,000) per month, officials said, adding he took an average annual tutoring fee of 10 million won from each student.

"We suspect his income far exceeded his claims, considering the fact that he rented expensive apartments in Gangnam, which would cost up to 5 to 7 million won per month," said an official of the Seoul education office.

The office requested the Seoul Regional Tax Service to conduct an extensive tax investigation into the arrested tutor.

It plans to step up efforts to curb illegal classes in Seoul.

Observers, however, doubt that the present system will be effective in cracking down on the covert lessons which take place in residential areas.

Though the education office introduced last July a financial reward system for those who report illegal education institutes and private lessons, the size of the private education market has not budged much over the past year.

The number of newly registered private tutors rose by 168 percent during the period with most of them being moderately priced.

"The exorbitant private lessons held in apartments are almost impossible to crack down on unless we have material evidence to prove the illegality of the contents," said an education official.

"Not only are the teachers alert against raids, but also students are taught to be discreet when attending such classes, making it all the more difficult for officials to step in."

This is why it took seven months for officials to get their hands on the even Gangnam private tutor, though the first report was made back in February, said officials.

The number of private education institutes reached 47,459 as of the end of 2008, a 30 percent increase from 2006, according to the National Tax Service.

Their total registered turnover also rose to 5.4 trillion won ($4.6 billion) from 4.1 trillion won over the period.

The flourishing private education market nevertheless does not seem to be contributing much to pulling up the general education level.

Among the 16 metropolitan cities and provinces, Seoul last year topped the list in the number of academically underachieving high school students, though it recorded the highest education costs, according to a study by Rep. Hwang Woo-yea of the ruling Grand National Party.

"Seoul, amid its heated private education rush, is largely neglecting a large number of students, especially those who need extra attention and academic guidance," said the lawmaker.

"The city needs to focus more on providing educational equity to all students."

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldm.com)