Parents "Teachers Do Not Carefully Monitor Children"
Education Office "Will Decide on Revisions Based on Objective Data"
An elementary school student suffered school violence in the form of bullying by classmates, but the school life record (hereinafter referred to as the Sengi-bu) was written in a way that could make it appear that the bullying occurred because the student misunderstood the friends, causing controversy.
According to the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education on the 23rd, Ms. A, a 4th-grade student at an elementary school in the province last year, requested help from her homeroom teacher, saying, "I am being bullied by classmates."
However, even after two counseling sessions with the homeroom teacher, the bullying continued, and eventually, a School Violence Countermeasure Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Hakpokwi) was held, and in March of this year, Ms. A's school violence victimization was recognized. The Hakpokwi disciplined two classmates who led the bullying.
However, the homeroom teacher wrote in the behavior characteristics and comprehensive opinion section of Ms. A’s 4th-grade Sengi-bu, "Ms. A often misunderstands that her friends ignore what she says."
In response, Ms. A’s parents appealed, saying, "The teacher’s judgment written in the Sengi-bu is proven wrong by the subsequent Hakpokwi deliberation results," and "The homeroom teacher did not carefully consider my daughter’s counseling request and judged her as if she were a child who misunderstood her friends."
A Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education official stated, "We cannot say that Ms. A’s Sengi-bu will definitely be corrected in this case, but if there is objective evidence, the Academic Performance Management Committee will comprehensively review whether to correct it through a deliberation process."
According to the Ministry of Education’s directive, "Guidelines for Writing and Managing School Life Records," corrections to Sengi-bu before the relevant academic year are basically prohibited. However, corrections are possible if there is objective evidence, and when correcting, objective evidence must be attached, and the process must go through the school’s Academic Performance Management Committee’s deliberation regarding the objectivity of the evidence, reasons, and content of the correction.
Among these, objective evidence must meet two criteria: it must be objectively verifiable that it was created in the relevant academic year, and it must be objectively verifiable that the author specified in the directive and guidelines created it.
However, Ms. A’s parents argue that not only the Sengi-bu but also the cumulative records, which are observations and records of the student’s growth and activities made regularly, should be corrected. The cumulative records form the basis for writing the Sengi-bu but are not disclosed in the Sengi-bu and can only be seen by the record-writing teacher.
The school reportedly refuses Ms. A’s side’s request to disclose the cumulative records, citing concerns such as "the contraction of student guidance and organizational management." Ms. A’s side stated, "Regarding the disclosure of cumulative records, the current regulations are unclear, so we have inquired with the Ministry of Education and are awaiting a response."
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