Report Unregistered or Unreported Private Institutes for a Whistleblower Reward of Up to 2 Million Won

The maximum whistleblower reward for reporting unregistered or unreported private educational institutes will be increased to 2 million won. For institutes that charge tuition fees in excess of official rates or violate designated lesson hours, the reward will be raised up to 1 million won.

On July 16, the Ministry of Education announced that it had amended the Enforcement Regulations of the "Act on the Establishment and Operation of Private Teaching Institutes and Extracurricular Lessons" (the "Academy Act") to include these changes. The revised regulations take effect immediately as of midnight on this date.

According to the amendment, the whistleblower reward for reporting institutes engaging in educational activities without registration or notification to the Superintendent of Education will be raised from the current 200,000 won to a maximum of 2 million won. Additionally, if a private institute or tutoring center charges more than the officially registered or posted tuition fees, or if it violates the lesson hours set by the Superintendent of Education, the whistleblower reward for such cases will rise from the current 100,000 won to a maximum of 1 million won.

Reports can be filed through the "Illegal Private Education Reporting Center" located in the public participation and civil complaints section of the Ministry of Education’s official website. The increased whistleblower rewards will only apply to cases reported after the effective date, which is today.

The reward application process for whistleblowers has also been improved. Previously, a tip filed with the reporting center required a separate, written application to receive the reward. Starting this month, whistleblowers can apply for the reward at the same time they file the report.

Choi Eunok, Vice Minister of Education, commented, "This revision is an inevitable measure to strengthen the public’s monitoring role and effectively curb illegal practices such as excessive tuition collection and lesson hour violations by some private institutes."

As a result of the Ministry of Education’s inspection of tuition fees at 55,280 private educational institutes and tutoring centers nationwide, a total of 5,021 violations were discovered by the end of June. The total number of administrative actions taken, including teaching suspension, prosecution, and police referrals, reached 6,691 cases.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.