"Only Fools Follow the Rules": Test-Takers and Parents Take to the Streets

Some test-takers and their parents have taken to the streets to criticize the Ministry of Education's handling of the application server crash during the early admissions application period for the 2027 academic year.

They argue that the Ministry's decision to rescue students who failed to submit their applications on time due to system errors is unfair, and are demanding the complete cancellation of applications accepted after the original deadline.

About 50 parents and test-takers belonging to the Solidarity of Test-Takers for Ensuring Fairness in Early Admissions Application held a rally in front of the National Assembly today (September 19), urging the total cancellation of applications accepted after 6:00 PM on September 11, the original early admissions deadline.

This marks the first protest by test-takers since the incident occurred, and controversies surrounding the fairness of the application process are expected to persist for a while.

The solidarity stated that students who trusted university admission guidelines and application instructions to submit their applications normally before the deadline followed the prescribed rules.

They added that allowing additional submissions after the deadline has instead created a situation where students who adhered to the rules face relative disadvantages.

In response to the Ministry of Education's explanation that the change in university competition rates resulting from the relief measures is merely 0.001%, the group countered that even a single additional applicant per department can determine success or failure, and that to a test-taker, even the number 0.001 is never trivial.

Previously, about 30 minutes before the early admissions deadline, a system error occurred in UwayApply starting around 5:50 PM on September 11, preventing some students from successfully completing their applications and causing massive confusion.

The Korean Council for University Education and the Ministry of Education extended the application deadline by one hour, but after confirming that some students still failed to submit their applications despite this measure, they initiated relief procedures.

A total of 354 test-takers have been finalized for relief.

A high school senior surnamed A, who attended today's rally, said that school teachers and university admission guides strictly warned that servers could go down, that the responsibility rests on the individuals, and that a generous five-day application period was given.

The student pointed out that despite this, it makes no sense to rescue everyone who failed to submit their applications until right before the deadline.

A parent surnamed Jung, who has a daughter preparing for college entrance exams, shared that her daughter, who submitted her application a day early, is angry and asking if people who follow the rules are fools.

The parent raised her voice, asking why this situation should be an exception when exams consider even a one-second delay as cheating.

The solidarity also pointed out that 17 universities disclosed their competition rates during the extended deadline, leaving students who submitted their applications on time at a relative disadvantage.

The Ministry of Education checked the competition rates of the 17 universities, identified three applicants who applied to those universities, and recommended that the universities cancel their applications.

However, the solidarity argues that it is impossible to determine whether someone applied to a university after checking competition rates based solely on electronic logs.

They explained that if family members or friends check the competition rates and relay them to the applicant, the student can submit an application without checking the rates through their own account.

Student B, who attended the rally with two friends, stated that posts claiming people checked competition rates before applying are continuously popping up in test-taker online communities.

The student added that the Ministry of Education's claim of only three individuals cannot be trusted, and that electronic logs alone cannot definitively rule out violations because there are numerous ways to obtain competition rate information.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.