[Reporting Y] "Light" is right in front of the exam.a massive cancellation of qualifications

[Anchor]
Students in the Department of Language Therapy and incumbent language rehabilitation workers who help the rehabilitation of people with speech disabilities were canceled on a large scale according to the Supreme Court ruling.

Hundreds of people have lost their jobs and have not been able to take national exams, but the Ministry of Health and Welfare has not been able to come up with sharp measures.

Reporter Y and Kim Geun-woo covered the report.

[Reporter]
Mr. Kwak, who majored in speech therapy at Cyber University and works as a speech rehabilitator for children with disabilities.

I heard the news like a bolt out of the blue that the qualifications I received by taking the national examination will soon be canceled.

About 500 people who passed the language rehabilitation examination in 2022 and 23, including Kwak, are eligible for the cancellation of the qualification.

This is because the Language Rehabilitation Association sued and finally won, saying that the qualifications of remote university graduates should be limited.

The feeling of being denied the years I've tried all day and losing my job is just devastating.

[Mr. Kwak / Speech Rehabilitation: My heart is tight, I'm short of breath. And I'm having a sleep disorder in common right now. You can only sleep for two or three hours, and you get frustrated. It's because we're people who worked really hard.]

The language rehabilitation exam qualification requirement is graduate, university, and junior college graduates.

The Supreme Court's judgment is that remote universities are not included, so the qualifications of people like Kwak cannot be recognized.

I've been studying only by believing in the Ministry of Health and Welfare's policy that remote universities are also included in universities, but now I've been hit by the ruling that it's wrong.

[Mr. Kwak / Language Rehabilitation: National examination. National examination. I took the test really hard, and I went through this process, but now it's going to be canceled. If it's a state agency, I think we should be responsible for this if we believe in the state agency and have taken the exam to this point and got a certificate issued....]

Currently, there are two remote universities nationwide where the department of speech therapy is located, with more than 1,000 students enrolled.

They will also not be eligible to take the national language rehabilitation examination even after completing their studies.

Universities even shaved their heads, asking for relief from students who had entered the school before the court ruling.

[Jeon Jong-guk / Daegu Cyber University Vice-Chancellor: Students are actually innocent. I studied as announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the only sin is that I studied hard, but it is canceled by the Supreme Court's ruling a month before the test, which cannot happen....]

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it will come up with a special plan for students at remote universities.

However, without any clear measures, the National Testing Service only announced refund of exam fees to students at remote universities ahead of the exam on the 30th.

I'm Kim Geunwoo from YTN.



Photographer: Jeon Ki-ho

Design: Lee Na-young