Med school fixes scores to keep women out

TOKYO: A Tokyo medical school systematically cut women applicants’ entrance exam scores for years to keep them out and boost the numbers of male doctors, Japanese media said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made creating a society ‘‘where women can shine’’ a priority, but women still face an uphill battle in employment.

The exam score alterations were discovered in an internal investigation of a graft allegation that emerged this spring over entrance procedures for Tokyo Medical University, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily said.

From 2011, it said, the university began cutting the scores of female applicants to keep the number of women students at about 30%, after the number of successful women entrants jumped in 2010.

It quoted university sources as saying the action was prompted by a ‘‘strong sense at the school’’ that many women quit medicine after graduating to get married and have children.

Tokyo Medical University spokesman Fumio Azuma said an internal investigation had already begun after allegations of bribery involving the admission of the son of an education ministry official.

‘‘Of course, we will ask them to include this in their investigations,’’ he said.

Social media erupted in anger. ‘‘It feels as if the earth’s crumbling under my feet,’’ wrote one person. ‘‘Who are you kidding with ‘Women should play an active role’?’’ — Reuters