Detectors to be used to thwart exam cheating

Metal or radar detectors may be used from this year`s Scholastic Aptitude Test to unearth cellular phones, which were used in an organized cheating scam last year, and cheaters could be suspended from taking the national university entrance exam for two or three years.

The Education Ministry yesterday announced these and other draft measures to thwart exam cheating after the cheating scam during last November`s aptitude test. The test scores of 327 students were annulled and university admissions of 36 students who cheated in 2003 were cancelled.

Under the ministry`s tentative plan, exam supervisors would be able to check a "suspicious exam taker" with a metal detector. The ministry said that it would decide whether to increase the use of radar detectors by testing their feasibility at some exam centers.

"A portable radar detector is under development and calls for a larger budget. Plus, we need to fully test its radar detecting capability," it said in a news release.

Punishment will also be stricter since an offender will be banned from taking a university exam for two years and, in the case of a second offender, for three years. Previously, students caught cheating could take the exam again the following year.

The ministry said it would take reports of possible cheating seriously by establishing a report center at local education offices. An audit faulted education officials for ignoring a series of tip-offs before last year`s scam.

The ministry would run a task force with related agencies, including police, for a month prior to the test.

Authorities said that they would finalize comprehensive measures to tackle exam cheating in late March after collecting people`s opinions.

(hjjin@heraldm.com)



By Jin Hyun-joo