Tokyo med school altered test results to fail women — report

TOKYO — A Tokyo medical school is investigating a reported allegation that it has discriminated against female applicants on grounds they tend to quit as doctors after starting families, causing staffing shortages.

The Yomiuri newspaper said Thursday that Tokyo Medical University has since 2011 manipulated entrance exam results only for women applicants to keep female student population low. Quoting unidentified sources, it says the manipulation started after the number of successful women applicants reached 38 percent of the total in 2010.

The school says it’s surprised by the report and is investigating.

The allegation surfaced during the school’s ongoing probe of a separate scandal in which its former director allegedly admitted the son of a top education bureaucrat to the school inappropriately in exchange for a favor.