South Korean students waiting to take the annual college entrance examinations, known locally as suneung.
Chung Sung-Jun/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
South Korean students are suing the government after their exam ended prematurely, by 90 seconds.The students were candidates for this year’s annual college entrance exams, also known as suneung.Each student is demanding about $15,000 in compensation for the disruption.
South Korea’s government found itself in a group of students’ crosshairs after an invigilator ended a college entrance exam 90 seconds early.
39 students have filed a lawsuit against the government after an invigilator at Kyungdong High School mistakenly clicked on the ending bell before an exam on November 16 was scheduled to end, per local news outlet Yonhap. According to the report, each student is demanding about $15,000 in compensation.
The school did try to rectify their error by giving the students back their papers for 90 seconds during lunchtime, per Yonhap.
Candidates, however, were only allowed to fill in their solutions for unsolved questions. They weren’t allowed to amend the responses to questions they’d solved earlier.
According to Yonhap’s report, the students claimed they were badly affected by the disruption they’d faced.
Students said the re-test administered during lunchtime provided little relief, as it ate into their break and distracted them from their subsequent paper. Some even headed home because they had given up on the exam.
South Korea’s highly competitive college admission exams, known locally as the suneung, are a rite of passage for students gunning for the country’s top colleges.
Some South Korean students would even retake the test a couple of times to secure admission into their dream universities.
South Korea’s government also implements special measures to accommodate test takers.
Every year, the government halts or reroutes flights during the exams to reduce distractions. Students who are running late can request a police escort to get them to the exam venue.