Ministry of Education Announces Comprehensive Measures to Protect Teachers' Rights... Including 'Revision of Student Human Rights Ordinance and School Records Entries'

Announcement on the 18th, Unified Window for Principal's Direct 'Civil Complaint Response Team' Including Counseling Application System
School Authority Protection Committee Transferred to Education Support Office

The Ministry of Education has prepared a comprehensive plan to restore and strengthen teacher authority as a follow-up measure to the 'Seoi Elementary School Incident.' The ministry's notice includes provisions such as a guardian consultation application system, immediate restraint of problematic behavior, and the transfer of the School Teacher Authority Protection Committee to the Office of Education. It also announced plans to revise the Student Human Rights Ordinance through the National Assembly and legal amendments, and to record serious infringements of teacher authority in student records.

On the afternoon of the 14th, Deputy Minister Jang Sang-yoon attended a public hearing on 'Restoring Teacher Authority' held at the National Assembly and unveiled a draft of these measures. On the same day, Deputy Minister Jang and Lee Tae-gyu, the ruling party secretary of the National Assembly Education Committee, listened to and discussed opinions from stakeholders at the hearing.

The Ministry of Education will prepare a student guidance notice that specifies detailed matters regarding the scope and methods of student guidance in accordance with amendments to the 'Elementary and Secondary Education Act' and its enforcement decree. The draft notice will be announced on the 18th and, after collecting opinions from related organizations, is scheduled to be promulgated and enforced on the 1st of next month.

The ministry is considering including in the draft notice the teacher's right to request guardian consultations, the guardian consultation application system, refusal of consultations outside of teachers' working hours and job scope, and suspension of consultations in cases of verbal abuse, threats, or violence. It is also considering proactive behavioral intervention methods such as temporary and immediate restraint of problematic behavior, separation, inspection and separate storage of belongings.

Additionally, the ministry plans to support autonomous revisions of the 'Student Human Rights Ordinance' by metropolitan and provincial offices of education. This will supplement the duty clause that requires respect for other students' right to learn and legitimate educational activities and student guidance.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

To strengthen teacher authority and protect educational activities, amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Child Abuse Punishment Act will be pursued to enhance the response capability to indiscriminate child abuse reports. Student guidance by teachers according to laws and school regulations will be protected from child abuse crimes unless there is intentional or gross negligence, and local governments and investigative agencies will be required to hear the opinions of the Office of Education before investigating or investigating child abuse reports related to teachers' student guidance. The criteria for suspension of teachers' positions by schools will be applied more strictly.

To strengthen protection for victimized teachers, amendments to the 'Teacher Status Act (Special Act for the Improvement of Teachers' Status and Protection of Educational Activities)' will also be pursued. When educational activity infringements occur, the infringing student will be immediately separated, and urgent preliminary measures will be established in the law. However, measures to guarantee the learning rights of separated students will also be prepared. Furthermore, the ministry plans to record only serious infringement measures (such as transfer or expulsion) in the school life records.

The School Teacher Authority Protection Committee, which deliberates on measures against students infringing educational activities, will be transferred from the current metropolitan and provincial teacher authority protection committees to the Office of Education. The Teacher Healing Support Center will also be expanded and reorganized into an Educational Activity Protection Center.

To protect teachers from parental complaints, all complaints will be handled by institutions rather than individual teachers, and the complaint response window will be unified into a 'Complaint Response Team' directly under the school principal. Additionally, when parents or others submit complaints via teachers' personal mobile phones or SNS (social networking services), teachers will be granted the right to refuse to respond or answer. An open complaint consultation room will be established on campus, and an online complaint reception and processing system using the school website will be set up.

The Ministry of Education also plans to add provisions such as 'repeated submission of complaints without justifiable purpose' and 'continuous coercion of teachers to perform tasks not legally obligated' to the 'Notice on Standards for Educational Activity Infringement Acts and Measures.'

However, amendments to laws such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Child Abuse Punishment Act fall under the authority of the National Assembly. The Legislative Review Subcommittee of the National Assembly Education Committee is scheduled to finalize the meeting schedule on the 17th and review the Educational Activity Protection Act. Considering the seriousness of the matter, it is also reported that they are considering holding the subcommittee before the 17th.