Attendance Recognized as Absence for Student Legislative Activities... Political Activities Not Recorded in Student Records

Establishment of Attendance and Academic Record Processing Standards Reflecting Amendments to Political Relations Act

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] With the lowering of the eligibility age for candidacy and party membership, the standards for student attendance and academic record processing are changing. Absences due to party activities or election campaigning will be classified as other absences, while absences due to legislative activities will be recognized as excused absences.

On the 24th, the Ministry of Education announced that it will establish standards for attendance and academic record processing in accordance with the revision of political relations laws. Following the lowering of voting rights to 18 years old since 2020, the Public Official Election Act and the Political Parties Act were amended, and from January this year, the eligibility age for candidacy was lowered to 18, and the age for party membership was lowered to 16.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Education has prepared standards regarding students' participation in political activities to reflect the intent of the law. If a student is absent due to party activities, election campaigning, or legislative activities, it will be treated as other absences. When absent due to attendance at the plenary session of the assembly or standing committee meetings after being elected, it can be treated as excused absences within 10% of the total school days per academic year.

The contents of election campaigning and party or legislative activities will not be recorded in the school life record book. This is because the principle is to record the completion status of educational activities conducted by the school according to the school education plan or curriculum.

School regulations or codes of conduct that restrict students' party or political activities will also be revised. Despite the amendment of political relations laws, school rules or codes of conduct still do not reflect these changes. A checklist for revising related regulations will be prepared by the end of March, and from April to June, schools will conduct self-inspections and revisions, with metropolitan and provincial offices of education conducting inspections from the second half of the year.

The Ministry of Education has collaborated with the National Election Commission and others to distribute operational standards and casebooks regarding the amended political relations laws to schools, ensuring the revised laws are reflected and settled in the field. In preparation for the 20th presidential election, a situation room utilizing the cooperation system will operate from the 24th until the day of the election to respond to changes in political relations laws.

The Ministry of Education stated, "We will continuously collect opinions from students, teachers, and parents to identify tasks, expand support for systematic education linked to social consensus formation and curricula, and more."

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