Solved exam questions but couldn't fill answer sheet, scored 0
Filed objection with school and filed lawsuit to cancel grade decision
A court ruling has upheld the school's decision to give a 'zero score' to a student who failed to complete the answer sheet (OMR card) by the end of the exam.
The Incheon District Court's 2nd Administrative Division (Presiding Judge Ho Seong-ho) announced on the 29th that it ruled against A, a third-year middle school student, in a lawsuit he filed against the principal of a middle school in Incheon seeking to cancel the exam score decision.
On April 28, A took the second period math midterm exam for the first semester of the third grade at a middle school in Incheon. Although he answered all the exam questions, he was unable to mark his answers on the OMR card before the end signal sounded. When the signal rang, the supervising teacher, Mr. B, collected A’s answer sheet, which had no answers marked, and A’s score was subsequently recorded as zero.
The photo is not related to the specific content of the article. On the morning of the 6th, students at Yeouido High School in Seoul are taking the September mock exam. Photo by Joint Press Corps
In response, A’s mother filed an objection with the school on May 1, requesting that the score be recognized based on the completed exam paper. However, the school explained that there was no problem with the exam supervision procedures and that an announcement was made 10 minutes before the exam ended. The school also stated that students had been informed in advance about exam-taking guidelines and that continuing to write answers after the end signal constitutes cheating.
Ultimately, the school notified that since the problem arose from A’s failure to properly complete the answer sheet, the disadvantage was A’s responsibility, and the exam score would be recorded as zero based on the answer sheet reading results. Unable to accept this, A’s side filed a lawsuit.
During the trial, A’s side argued, "The duty of exam supervision includes not only monitoring for cheating but also guiding the exam process, exam-taking methods, and answer sheet completion." They claimed, "The school did not provide guidance or confirmation on answer sheet completion, and since the answer sheet was not checked, it would have been appropriate to give A a chance to complete it even after the exam ended." They further stated, "(The exam supervisor) failed to properly fulfill the supervision duty by not giving A the opportunity to complete the OMR card and omitted the important procedure of checking whether the answer sheet was completed," and "Because of this, A was unable to complete the exam answer sheet, so the zero score should be canceled."
However, the court sided with the school. The court acknowledged, "It appears that the teacher did not individually check whether students had completed their answer sheets 10 or 5 minutes before the exam ended, nor did the teacher instruct students who had not completed their answer sheets to do so." Nevertheless, the court judged, "The school announced the exam end 10 minutes prior via a broadcast, and A should have been sufficiently aware that the answer sheet had to be completed within those 10 minutes."
Regarding the dismissal of the claim, the court explained, "Writing answers after the exam has ended is considered cheating, so the school’s decision to record A’s exam score as zero cannot be deemed illegal."
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