The Seoul education board said Thursday it paid 15.5 million won (US$13,450) in rewards for whistleblowers who reported bribery and other irregularities at schools, the first such payments under a system adopted earlier this year.
The system, introduced in April by the educational office to stamp out repeated scandals involving school officials, allows up to 100 million won in reward for reporting such irregularities.
The board had 76 irregularities reported and gave rewards on six. The reported cases included kickbacks in choosing a contractor for school
construction, accounting fraud and free meals for teachers. All of the accused schools were public schools.
One parent was given 2.5 million won for reporting a teacher who received 300,000 won worth of gift certificates for the Teachers' Day that falls on May 15, board officials said. They said the board recommended that the teacher be disciplined through admonishment or a pay cut.
Officials said this would be the first time that a teacher is officially punished for taking gifts from parents. Previous teachers who were caught taking gifts were given warnings, they said.