Human Rights Commission: "Collecting All Mobile Phones from High School Students Violates Human Rights"

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jeong] The National Human Rights Commission has determined that the high school’s regulation of collecting and returning students' mobile phones during morning assembly infringes on students' fundamental rights.

The Human Rights Commission announced on the 4th that it recommended revising the student code of conduct at High School A, which completely bans the use of mobile phones at school, as it violates the constitutional freedoms of general behavior and communication.

A complainant, a student at High School A, claimed that their rights were violated by the total prohibition on possessing and using mobile phones at school. According to the Human Rights Commission, High School A collects students' mobile phones every day at 8:20 a.m. and returns them at 8:30 p.m. after after-school programs end.

Under the pretext of checking whether the collected phones were inactive devices, the responsible teachers and disciplinary committee members turned on each student's phone without consent, and students who submitted inactive devices were penalized with demerit points.

The school stated, "The collection of mobile phones is for educational purposes, and the regulation was revised after gathering opinions from teachers, parents, and students, following parents' requests to ban mobile phone use on campus."

However, the Human Rights Commission judged that "other methods that minimize infringement on fundamental rights while achieving educational goals can be considered," and found that High School A violated the constitutional principle of proportionality and infringed on the freedoms of general behavior and communication.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.