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1,400 students skip standardized tests

2010-03-30 15:56

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Hundreds of students including 67 in Seoul were estimated to have dodged standardized exams administered nationwide yesterday, repeating what led to a dismissal of 12 school teachers late last year.

Despite warnings by education authorities to punish teachers who do not cooperate with the testing, members of a progressive teachers` union gave the students a choice not to take the exams.

The Korean Teachers and Education Workers` Union revealed the names of 122 teachers who sent letters to parents asking them if they wanted their children to take the standardized tests.

Those who got permission from their parents to skip yesterday`s tests for fourth, fifth, sixth graders and middle school students went on field trips instead.

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Since last year, the KTU and several parents` groups have opposed nationwide standardized testing, or what they call "universal tests," claiming the excessive pressure they put on schools to excel in the exams distorts education.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education had ordered schools to not allow members of the KTU to preside over the exams yesterday.

"All of those who are found to have clearly obstructed the evaluation will be punished regardless of how many there are," an SMOE official said.

The city`s education authorities plan to look into whether the KTU teachers who sent the letters to the parents instigated them to boycott the tests.

A great number of students also involved themselves in the boycotting.

A group of students opposing the standardized tests said that over 5,800 of its members agreed to turn in blank test papers yesterday.

The students were tested on Korean, social studies, math, science and English yesterday. The scores will not be unveiled and the students will be informed next month whether they have reached the basic proficiency levels in each subject.

By Kim So-hyun



(sophie@heraldm.com)

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The ruling Grand National Party yesterday zeroed in on chief justice Lee Yong-hoon as it upped the ante in a dispute over controversial court rulings.
The conservative GNP called on the Supreme Court head to take responsibility for the controversy surrounding "slanted" rulings.

The party said it will officially demand he dissolve a private association of young, progressive-minded justices who are involved in the court decisions in question.

Lee struck back, telling reporters, "I will firmly safeguard the independence of judiciary."

Lee had kept silent in the face of one of the widest-reaching and fiercest political disputes to engulf the judicial institution. Lee was appointed by former President Roh Moo-hyun in September 2005 for a six-year term.

The GNP and conservatives blamed him for "leftist tendencies" among young justices and a series of "politically biased" rulings.



Lee had kept silent in the face of one of the widest-reaching and fiercest political disputes to engulf the judicial institution. Lee was appointed by former President Roh Moo-hyun in September 2005 for a six-year term.

The GNP and conservatives blamed him for "leftist tendencies" among young justices and a series of "politically biased" rulings.