By Kim Rahn



More than 8,700 illegal activities at private institutes, or “hagwon,” have been reported to the educational authorities since the adoption of a reward system for informants two years ago, it was reported Sunday.



The informants of the illegalities received about 3.4 billion won ($3.2 million).



Since July 2009, informants reported 8,720 illegal actions, according to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. About half were false registration, while others included collecting higher tuition than reported and unregistered private tutoring.



The ministry paid the rewards to 1,232 whistleblowers, with 365 of them reporting more than five illegalities, each. About 300,000-500,000 won was given per case on average.



“With only ministry inspectors, we haven’t been able to crack down on this many abuses. We think the reward system is effective,” a ministry official said.



The ministry plans to encourage reporting of unregistered private tutoring and increase the amount of rewards for this, as it is difficult to detect.

교육과학기술부는 10일 2009년 7월에 학원 신고포상금제를 도입한 뒤 지난달 말까지 33억 9천만 원을 포상금으로 지급했다고 밝혔다. 교과부는 2년 동안 4만 9천여 건의 신고가 들어왔으며, 이 가운데 17%인 8천720 건에 대해 포상금 지급이 이뤄졌다고 말했다. 신고 유형별로는 학원•교습소 등록 위반이 가장 많았고, 수강료 초과징수와 미신고 개인과외교습 등이 뒤를 이었다. 교과부는 앞으로 신고 포상금 제도를 불법 개인 고액과외를 단속하기 위한 방안으로 운영해 나갈 계획이라고 밝혔다.