"No Tolerance for School Violence Perpetrators"… Education Universities Enforce Application Restrictions and Rejections

From the 2026 Academic Year... Stricter Application Than General Universities
Even If Eligible to Apply, Deduction Points Make Passing Practically Difficult

From now on, perpetrators of school violence (hakpok) will face restrictions or bans on applying to teacher training universities. Currently, this applies to students in the second year of high school who have a history of hakpok.

According to the recently released ‘2026 University Admission Plan,’ all 10 national teacher training universities and 3 universities with elementary education departments nationwide will exclude or disqualify applicants with a hakpok record in their school life records from at least one admission track.

This is a follow-up measure to the Ministry of Education’s ‘Comprehensive Measures to Eradicate School Violence,’ announced last year, which mandates the mandatory reflection of hakpok disciplinary actions in all university admissions starting from 2026.

While most universities plan to apply partial point deductions or qualitative evaluations for hakpok records, teacher training universities, given their role in training prospective teachers, are applying stricter character standards than general universities.

Seoul National University of Education [Image source=Yonhap News]

Perpetrators of school violence are subject to disciplinary actions numbered 1 through 9 depending on the severity. These include ▲1: written apology ▲2: prohibition of contact, threats, and retaliation against the victim ▲3: school service ▲4: community service ▲5: special education completion or psychological treatment ▲6: suspension ▲7: class transfer ▲8: school transfer ▲9: expulsion.

Seoul National University of Education, Gyeongin National University of Education, Busan National University of Education, Gyeongin National University of Education, and Jinju National University of Education have a policy to restrict or disqualify applicants with any hakpok history from all admission tracks regardless of severity.

The other teacher training universities restrict or disqualify applicants only for relatively serious hakpok cases. Minor hakpok cases receive point deductions. Universities with elementary education departments outside of teacher training universities also operate admission tracks that disqualify applicants based on the disciplinary action number. However, even if application is possible, the point deductions are significant, making it structurally difficult for hakpok perpetrators to be admitted.

At Ewha Womans University’s Elementary Education Department, applicants with hakpok-related entries in their school records cannot apply through the student record-based admission track. For early and regular admission tracks excluding the student record-based track, applicants with disciplinary actions numbered 1 to 7 receive up to a 60% point deduction, while those with actions numbered 8 to 9 are disqualified.

At Chuncheon National University of Education, applicants with action number 1 receive a 40-point deduction, and those with action number 2 or higher are disqualified. At Korea National University of Education’s Elementary Education Department, applicants with action number 1 receive point deductions in the general admission track, and those with action number 2 or higher are disqualified. Gongju National University of Education deducts up to 100 points for actions numbered 1 to 5 in early admission and disqualifies those with actions numbered 6 to 9. In regular admission, during the first stage (CSAT score), applicants with actions numbered 1 to 5 receive up to 100-point deductions, and those with actions numbered 6 to 9 are disqualified.

These disciplinary measures will be applied starting from the 2026 university admission cycle, when current second-year high school students take the college entrance exam. The same applies to those who have taken the qualification exam but have attended high school or have partial school life records.