Establishment of Implementation Basis Including Dedicated Investigators
Appointment of 1,927 Dedicated Investigators Nationwide
The basis for implementing 'School Violence Dedicated Investigators,' who will be responsible for investigating school violence cases instead of teachers, has been established. The Ministry of Education plans to deploy 1,955 dedicated investigators to each metropolitan and provincial office of education nationwide starting from the first half of this year.
On the 20th, the Ministry of Education announced that the amendment to the 'Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Prevention and Countermeasures against School Violence' was reviewed and approved at the Cabinet meeting. This is a follow-up measure to the 'Comprehensive Measures to Eradicate School Violence' announced by the Ministry of Education last year and the amended 'Act on the Prevention and Countermeasures against School Violence' passed by the National Assembly.
The amendment provides the legal basis for superintendents of education to conduct investigations through 'School Violence Dedicated Investigators.' Until now, teachers have been responsible for investigating school violence cases, but there have been concerns about difficulties such as threats from parents and malicious complaints, as well as excessive workload. Accordingly, in December last year, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and the National Police Agency decided that from March, school violence investigations would be handled by dedicated investigators instead of teachers.
Additionally, the amendment stipulates detailed operational matters for the system of 'Support Assistants for Victimized Students (Dedicated Support Officers),' who provide legal, counseling, and protective support to victimized students. The qualifications for dedicated support officers are limited to social workers, current or retired teachers, police officers, and others who have 'sufficient understanding of victimized students.'
Furthermore, the enforcement decree specifies detailed duties of specialized institutions for student healing and recovery, requirements for designating school violence prevention centers for effective prevention and response, and the content of training for school administrators.
Lee Haesook, Director of Student Health Policy, explained, "A total of 1,955 dedicated investigators will be appointed," adding, "Based on the 62,052 school violence cases in the 2022 academic year, this allows each investigator to conduct about two investigations per month." She continued, "It seems manageable to operate with this number in the first half of the year," and "Metropolitan and provincial offices of education are planning to appoint additional personnel to prepare for fluctuations."
As of 9 a.m. on the same day, the number of dedicated investigators by metropolitan and provincial offices of education is as follows: Seoul (188), Busan (105), Daegu (91), Incheon (80), Gwangju (50), Daejeon (25), Ulsan (47), Sejong (24), Gyeonggi (506), Gangwon (120), Chungbuk (73), Chungnam (87), Jeonbuk (95), Jeonnam (119), Gyeongbuk (155), Gyeongnam (172), and Jeju (18).
The Ministry of Education explained that although the enforcement decree stipulates that the superintendent of education determines the allowances and treatment of dedicated investigators, each metropolitan and provincial office of education is allowed to decide autonomously. The policy director said, "We are negotiating with metropolitan and provincial offices of education so that they can receive about 900,000 to 1,000,000 KRW per month on average."
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