By Bahk Eun-ji
The Ministry of Education said it will decide on whether to replace the English language section of the annual college entrance exam with the National English Ability Test (NEAT) at the end of this year.
Plans are currently underway to determine the possibility of adopting NEAT as a substitute for TOEIC and TOEFL as well as for the English section of College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). A total of 36 universities nationwide are already using NEAT scores as a key criterion for admitting freshmen students for the 2013 academic year.
If the government decides to replace the English section with NEAT, it will take effect from 2016.
Officials of the education ministry denied a media report that the Park Geun-hye administration decided to scrap the plan.
A major local daily earlier cited Education Minister Seo Nam-soo as saying the government will not use NEAT.
"NEAT is a very important test. But any sudden change in the college entrance exam would confuse students and raise the burden of private education, which is not desirable," Seo was quoted as saying.
However, ministry officials downplayed their chief's remarks, saying there has been no decision on the matter and one is not expected until the end of the year.
"Schools have to be prepared to provide NEAT classes in order to cool down people's zeal for private English education," a ministry official said.
The ministry hopes NEAT will become a critical reference for schools and companies to evaluate English proficiency in the future, as concerns over soaring costs for taking foreign tests such as TOEIC and TOEFL have been growing.
The previous Lee Myung-bak administration aggressively pushed for the implementation of NEAT, pledging to replace TOEIC and TOEFL. It also wanted to replace the English section of CSAT with NEAT, claiming that the new state-administered test would reduce the costs of private education.
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