More than eighteen hundred South Korean school students are suspected of taking part in an organised cheating operation during university entrance exams. The police say many of the students used mobile phones to send and receive answers to exam questions.
This report from Charles Scanlon:
The revelations of mass cheating have scandalised a nation where education is an obsession - and entry to a good university can set you up for life. Acting on a tip off - the police tried to raid a hall where students were taking the college entrance exam last month. They were blocked by teachers but later confiscated mobile phones that had been smuggled into the room - and uncovered what they said was an elaborate cheating system. The brightest students known as "players" finished their multiple choice papers quickly then sent off the answers by text message to younger students outside the hall. They forwarded the information to others who paid up to a thousand dollars to take part.
The police have since inspected hundreds of thousands of text messages sent at the time of the exam. They say more than eighteen hundred students appear to have been involved in similar scams across the country. The education ministry has already cancelled the exam results of more than two hundred cheaters. Some are calling for tough penalties. They've condemned laxity by exam monitors who are accused of not taking cheating seriously enough in the past. Others are calling for an overhaul of the entire exam system - saying it puts students under intolerable pressure.
Charles Scanlon, BBC, Seoul
set you up for life
garantizar un futuro de por vida
a tip off
más brillantes o inteligentes
estafas (en este caso pueder ser trampas)
falta de rigor
an overhaul of