Ten Bills Proposed in Response to the Haneul Case
Strengthening the Disease Review Committee and School Police Officers
"Could Lead to Concealment... Purpose Must Be Clear"
In relation to the case where a teacher at an elementary school in Daejeon murdered first-grade student Kim Haneul, a flood of legislative proposals is emerging in the National Assembly, including measures to strengthen the Disease Review Committee and expand the authority of school police officers. Experts advised that careful legislation is needed to enable preemptive checks on teachers' mental health or potential for violence.
According to the National Assembly Legislative Information System on the 14th, a total of 10 related bills have been proposed since the incident occurred on the 10th. Regardless of party lines, the proposed bills vary in type and content, including the Education Officials Act, School Health Act, School Violence Prevention Act, and Private School Act.
Among these, a commonly included provision is the amendment to the Education Officials Act to strengthen the Disease Teacher Review Committee. The bills were proposed respectively by Park Deok-hum and Go Dong-jin of the People Power Party, Park Yong-gap of the Democratic Party, and Kang Kyung-sook of the Innovation Party for Justice. The education office operates the Disease Teacher Review Committee to assess whether teachers suffering from mental or physical illnesses can perform their duties, but there have been many criticisms that it is not active in the field. According to the amendment, if the superintendent receives a complaint, audit, or request from the head of an institution regarding a teacher with a disease, or becomes aware of it independently, they must immediately investigate the facts. Additionally, the Education Officials Act proposed by Democratic Party member Jeong Eo-ho includes provisions allowing the school principal to request a leave of absence from the appointing authority for teachers who have or are suspected of having mental illness, regardless of the teacher's consent.
Two bills to expand the role and authority of school police officers under the School Violence Prevention Act were proposed by Kim So-hee of the People Power Party and Kang Kyung-sook. Last year, the average number of schools assigned per school police officer nationwide was 10.7, and the proposals aim to prevent on-campus crimes by mandating the placement of a school police officer at each school and strengthening their roles and authority.
In addition, the amendment to the School Health Act proposed by Park Yong-gap requires the establishment of health promotion plans for school staff in connection with the national basic plan. It also includes a provision that allows teachers who have difficulty performing their duties due to mental health issues to receive healing support through the Education Activity Protection Center. The amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act proposed by Kang Kyung-sook stipulates that if a teacher's serious physical or mental illness interferes with student protection and education, the principal must promptly report it to the superintendent.
While the government and the National Assembly are focused on the 'Haneul Act,' experts expressed cautious views on legislation. Professor Park Nam-gi of Gwangju National University of Education said, "For professions such as teachers and doctors who deal with people unable to defend themselves, legislation is needed to allow mental health screenings at the entry stage," adding, "However, the purpose must be clear that it is not to separate teachers with mental illness but to allow leave or reduce workload if they develop illnesses while working in the profession."
Professor Yang Jeong-ho of Sungkyunkwan University's Department of Education said, "The Disease Teacher Review Committee is ultimately a reactive measure, and it may cause teachers to hide mental illnesses," adding, "It is best to have mechanisms to check mental and physical issues during the process of becoming a teacher and during promotion to prevent problems."
Teacher organizations warned that the legal focus is solely on mental illness. The Teachers' Union Federation emphasized in a statement, "The focus of measures for fundamental solutions should be on 'school members showing severe violent prodromal symptoms,' not on 'teachers with mental illnesses including depression.'" The union proposed, "When a school member exhibits severe violent prodromal symptoms in daily school life, the education authorities should be able to report the symptoms to a doctor and request an examination ex officio, and the doctor should be able to assess the degree of the teacher's illness based on professional knowledge."
The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union stated, "If measures such as ex officio leave are discussed solely on the grounds of mental illness regardless of duties, ex officio leave may be abused based on subjective judgments about teachers experiencing mental health problems," and added, "Support should be provided to detect problems early and receive treatment."
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