OITA, JAPAN - The Oita Prefectural Board of Education has formally hired as full-time teachers 18 of 22 people who had unfairly failed a bribery-tainted recruitment examination in 2007 after their scores were manipulated.

The remaining four people are set to be hired on April 1 at the start of the next academic year as they currently have other jobs.

According to the board, of the 18 hires, 12 have been assigned to primary schools and six to middle schools.

Seventeen of the 18 already had been working at public schools as temporary or part-time lecturers through September. They were posted to the schools where they had been working. The other person hired had been looking for work as a teacher, but had not found a job.