Students float balloons filled with hopes at a high school in the satellite city of Suwon on November 2. [Yonhap Photo]
In South Korea, known for an educational fever, students spend studying most of their 12 years of education just to earn good marks in state scholastic ability testing as if their whole life depends on it.
Because the annual test determines which university they will be granted into, parents and students do anything to get good marks, reflecting public stereotypes that judge people by their academic background.
Some parents risk breaking the law by allowing their children to take "smart drugs" which have been misused widely to help them concentrate, although they are actually the cure for ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder).
With two weeks left to go for this year's scholastic ability test, the drug ministry released unusual guidelines through its official website on Thursday, saying taking ADHD drugs to help students concentrate on their study could cause a critical situation.
"ADHD medicines are not the kind of drugs which make students get good grades," the ministry said. "If misused, results could get critical. Consultation with doctors and pharmacists is suggested before use.".
The ministry warned that misuse would cause such side effects as insomnia, paranoia, dizziness and headaches. In rare cases, it said users could suffer from hallucination and become suicidal.
Some parents think that just a serious crackdown will stop the misuse of smart drugs. "I hear about smart drugs in the school mom community. I never let my son use such drugs but I know many of his friends use them," Hwang Hae-sook, a 47-year-old mother of a third-grade high school student in the central city of Daejeon, told Aju News.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
