Ministry of Education Faces Massive Leak of Personal Data of 10,000 Teachers... "Minister Must Apologize and Responsible Parties Punished"

Information of Over 10,000 Trainees Related to Classroom Revolution Exposed
Ministry of Education Requests Suspension of Official Letters and Deletion

The Ministry of Education sent official documents containing unencrypted personal information, resulting in the leakage of personal data of over 11,000 teachers. It was also revealed that the Ministry identified the issue but only belatedly informed the individual teachers. On the 27th, Yonhap News reported that on the 20th, the Ministry of Education sent an official document titled 'Results of Selection for Classroom Revolution Leading Teacher Training Candidates' to some metropolitan and provincial offices of education, which included personal information such as the names, affiliated schools, and mobile phone numbers of 11,000 participating teachers.

Naju-beom, Deputy Minister of Education, announced support measures to strengthen digital-based educational innovation capabilities on the afternoon of April 15 at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

This was a teacher training related to AI digital textbooks. Upon recognizing the situation, the Ministry of Education informed the teachers who participated in the ‘Classroom Revolution Leading Teacher Group’ training held on the afternoon of the 23rd that their personal information had been leaked and expressed an apology. On the 24th, the Ministry sent an apology letter via email to individual teachers titled, ‘We sincerely apologize for failing to thoroughly manage your personal information as training candidates for the Leading Teachers from the Ministry of Education.’

The leaked personal information included the names, affiliated schools, and mobile phone numbers of over 11,000 teachers participating in the training. The Ministry of Education did not set a password on the list file of training candidates sent to four metropolitan and provincial offices of education. Among teachers, various complaints erupted following the personal information leak. There were significant concerns that the rushed implementation of AI digital textbooks, including the Ministry’s failure to provide detailed schedules for the Classroom Revolution Leading Teacher Group training, was causing various side effects.

The AI digital textbooks being developed by textbook developers have not yet been released in a finalized form. A teacher participating in the Classroom Revolution Leading Teacher Group said, "Teachers need to arrange other training schedules during the vacation," and added, "The lack of specific announcements about future training schedules seems to be due to the government’s lack of preparation. It appears that rushing the policy has led to accidents and various problems."

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho is speaking at the opening ceremony of the Leading Teachers for Classroom Revolution Training held via video conference at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu on the 23rd.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

In response, Kang Kyung-sook, a member-elect of the Party for National Innovation, held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office with teacher organizations such as the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union and the Teachers’ Union on the same day, criticizing, "The Ministry of Education must immediately punish those responsible for leaking personal information." Kang said, "The Ministry’s apology letter sent on the 24th stated that there have been no additional reports so far and that the Excel sheet was hidden so personal information was not visible," and criticized this as "a detached rhetoric that fails to grasp the seriousness of the situation." Kang further demanded, "Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, must issue a public apology for the leakage of personal information of 10,000 teachers and immediately punish those responsible."