Why is South Korea scrapping ‘killer questions’ from exams to improve fertility rate?

South Korea has been struggling with a low fertility rate for years. Now, President Yoon Suk-yeol’s government has moved to improve the fertility rate through a novel approach – by banning ‘killer questions’ on exams. But what are ‘killer questions?’ And why is South Korea scrapping them? Let’s take a closer look: What are killer questions? South Korea’s college entrance exams are said to be ‘notoriously difficult’. More than half a million students sit the annual nine-hour test, known as suneung, which plays a crucial role in deciding a student’s college, career and even marriage prospects. “Killer questions”, which cannot be answered by simply studying the curriculum taught at state schools, were meant to help distinguish top students. According to The Telegraph, such questions have included contingency pricing from lawyers, as well as questions about equity capital and risk-weighted bank assets. Students were also asked to conduct a hypothetical analysis of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. While such questions were meant to help distinguish top students, experts say such questions only add to the pressure that students and parents feel. South Korea’s ultra-competitive education system has been blamed for teenage depression and suicide rates which are among the highest in the world. Why are they being blamed for low fertility rate? According t_o The Telegraph,_ South Korea has the world’s lowest fertility rate. Experts say one of the many reasons  for this phenomenon – which has been ongoing for years – is the cost of raising and educating children. Killer questions have created an arms race of extra educational spending as they flock to expensive private tutoring centres known as hagwons to get ahead.

According to The Telegraph, around 8 in 10 students attend now hagwons.

South Korea in 2022 spent 26 trillion won ($20.3 billion) – a record amount on private education. This, despite the student population dropping, was a 10 per cent increase over 2021, as per the newspaper. “I was dumbfounded and angry,” The New York Times quoted Kim Kwang-doo, a professor of economics at Sogang University in Seoul as saying. “Is there a high school student who could solve problems that are this difficult without the help of top instructors at private academies?” South Korea’s president has signalled his stance on the matter. “Topics that are not covered in the public education system must be eliminated from the Suneung,” Nikkei Asia quoted Yoon telling education minister Lee Ju-ho in June. Yoon further blasted such questions as “extremely unfair and unjust”. “Seeing this, people could believe education authorities and the private tutoring industry are in cahoots,” Yoon added, as per The Telegraph. [caption id=“attachment_12821072” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] People walk on a street in downtown Seoul, South Korea. Reuters.[/caption] “Including questions that are not covered in the public school curriculum for the college entrance exam is no different than pushing students into private education,” Lee was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. “I will do everything I can in my capacity as the education minister… to exclude questions outside of the public education system to make the test a fair test,” he earlier said in June. Lee said officials should “reflect on themselves” for previously failing to address the test’s difficulty, which he called the “driving force” behind explosive growth in private education. While the government stood idly by, the pockets of cram schools “got fatter”, he added. Big business Private education is big business in South Korea. According to Nikkei Asia, students on average spend around 700,000 won ($536 per month) on hagwon fees. According to SCMP, there are around 85,000 hagwons across the nation.

The largest of the country’s schools, Megastudy, witnessed a 19 per cent jump in sales last year at 836 billion won (US$635 million) last year.

Meanwhile, its operating profits rose 36 per cent to 134 billion won. Megastudy chief Son Ju-eun dismissed such accusations from the government. “The president’s statement is right in terms of its direction,"  one former government official who graduated from Seoul National University told Nikkei Asia. “Korean universities are very difficult to enter, but once you get in, it’s easy to graduate. It would be better to make the entrance easier and the exit harder, like in the West, so students can enjoy a more fruitful life.” ‘Broader plan needed’ But not everyone is happy with the government’s reform bid. “The government needs to come up with a broader plan that addresses the question of how to alleviate this excessive competition to get into a few of the best universities,” Shin So-young, an activist at civic group The World Without Worry About Private Education, told Reuters. SCMP quoted an 18-year-old high school student in Seoul, who is gearing up for the exam, as saying, “I felt like I was struck by lightning only five months before Suneung.” “It took me by surprise as I’ve spent thousands of dollars for private tutoring for my kid to prepare him for so-called killer questions,” a 62-year-old named Park told the outlet. Park said he wanted his son to get into medical school. A private maths tutor named Chang told SCMP, “Now, just one mistake in Suneung could push you down from the top level to the third level, and change the entire course of your life, as there would be a lot of students who will receive almost perfect scores.” The Opposition Democratic Party of Korea has slammed Yoon with its chief Lee Jae-myung saying, “The biggest risk to Korean education is President Yoon.” With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.