Japan's Tokyo Medical University has been cutting female applicants' entrance exam scores to curb the number of female freshmen, local media reported Thursday.

The private medical university started altering female applicants' scores in 2011 to keep the number of female students at about 30 percent, after the number of successful female entrants climbed in the previous year, according to the Japanese paper Yomiuri Shimbun.

Officials have adopted a "silent understanding" on the reduction of female entrants over concerns that many female graduates quit medicine to get married and have children, the paper quoted an unnamed source as saying.

The score alterations were reportedly uncovered during an investigation over allegations earlier this year that the university bribed Futoshi Sano, a senior official of Japan's education ministry, for a financial grant. Sano was arrested last month but denied the allegations.

Tokyo Medical University spokesman Fumio Azuma has responded that the score allegations will be investigated and the results of both investigations could come as early as this month.

The news was met with shock and anger on Japan's social media, with some demanding more steps to be taken while others complained about the prevalence of gender inequality.

"Who are you kidding with 'Women should play an active role'?" one netizen wrote.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been championing women's advancement during his time in office. The term "womenomics" has even been coined to refer to his policies aimed at getting more women into the workforce.

However, the country has dropped from 111th place in the World Economic Forum's global ranking of the gender gap in 2016 to 114th in 2017.