韓国、大学入試から「超難問」排除

【ソウルＡＦＰ＝時事】過酷な受験戦争で知られる韓国の教育省は２０日、日本の大学入学共通テストに当たる大学修学能力試験（修能）から「超難解問題」を排除する方針を明らかにした。学習塾などの学校外教育への依存を減らすのが狙い。（写真は李周浩〈イ・ジュホ〉社会副首相兼教育相）
　９時間に及ぶ修能は、大学だけでなくキャリアや結婚などの未来をも左右する重要な試験で、毎年５０万人以上が受験している。
　超難問は、公立学校の教育課程の学習内容だけでは正答できないため、優秀な受験生を容易に判別するために出題されてきた。一方で、教育費負担の増大や受験戦争の激化も招き、受験生は試験を少しでも有利にしようと高額な学習塾に殺到した。
　李周浩（イ・ジュホ）社会副首相兼教育相は１９日、「公立学校の教育課程外の問題を排除して修能を公正な試験にするため、教育相として手を尽くす」と述べた。
　さらに、超難問が学校外教育業界の爆発的成長の「原動力」になってきたと指摘し、対策を取らずにいた当局者に「自省」を促した。
　教育省は２０日、ＡＦＰの取材に対し、李氏の発言を「支持」し、教育改革を進めていくと述べた。
　これまでも模擬試験から超難問を排除する試みなどの改革が行われてきたが、すべて失敗に終わっている。
　韓国統計庁によると、２０２２年の小中高生の私教育費は、月額で１人当たり４１万ウォン（約４万５０００円）だった。
　韓国は世界でも１０代の若者の自殺率が特に高いが、激しい受験戦争の大きな重圧も一因とされる。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/06/21-17:13）

South Korea will drop so-called killer questions from its notoriously tough college entrance exam in a bid to reduce reliance on private cram schools, the education ministry said Tuesday.
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.
The inclusion of killer questions, which cannot be answered by simply studying the curriculum taught at state schools, was meant to help distinguish top students.
But it has created an arms race of extra educational spending as parents and students flock to expensive private tutoring centres known as hagwons to get ahead.
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, education minister Lee Ju-ho said Monday.
On Tuesday the education ministry told AFP it would press ahead with the reform, saying it stood by Lee's comment.
Previous efforts to change the system have flopped, including an attempt this year to remove killer questions from the mock exam.
The importance of the test is reflected in extraordinary measures that authorities take to prevent any disturbance, including suspending take-offs and landings at airports during the English listening test.
Enormous pressure placed on students in South Korea's ultra-competitive education system has been blamed for teenage depression and suicide rates that are among the highest in the world.
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.
South Korean households spent more than $20 billion on private education for primary, middle and high-school students last year, according to Statistics Korea.
The figure translates to a monthly average spend of $320 per student.