The government is investigating the background of 1 million people working in educational facilities to see whether they have a past history of sex crimes.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on Wednesday responded to a nationwide outcry sparked by a film about sexual abuse at a school for the hearing-impaired by saying it is investigating the backgrounds  of all 1,026,852 teachers in 189,759 kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and private crammers.

Investigation of some 874,552 people, or 85.2 percent, was completed in July with consent from individuals, and the rest will be investigated by the end of the month. So far fewer than 100 people or less than 0.01 percent turned out to have a history of sexual crimes.

The investigation is sanctioned by a law revised in April last year. If people with a sexual criminal record are found to be working in an educational institution, the mnistry plans to demand that provincial offices of education take action against them. Under the current law, those who committed sex crimes after April 15, 2010, or after Feb. 4, 2008 against children and youngsters, cannot be employed by educational facilities for 10 years.