Hagwon informants to receive cash rewards under new crackdown
As covered by the Joongang Ilbo and other local media today, private education institutes, or hagwon, will be banned from providing classes after 10 p.m. from today, and whistleblowers will be rewarded with cash payments. This was announced yesterday by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. An individual who reports on illegal hagwon operations will be rewarded with a maximum of 2 million won ($1,577) in total.
This measure is unprecedented, although past administrations have spent decades trying to clamp down on private education fever in South Korea. According to the Education Ministry, education offices in each city and province will accept reports on illegal practices of hagwon. The Ministry will also install a call center for the same function. To help ensure the effectiveness of these measures, the Ministry will hire 200 workers devoted soley to the task of cracking down on illegal hagwon operations. The assumption is that parents who are dissatisfied with the operations or tuition fees of a particular hagwon will make up the majority of those who report violations of the new policy.