Human Rights Commission: "Ministry of Education Rejects Recommendation to Improve High Academic Qualification Requirement Only for Foreign Instructors"

National Human Rights Commission of Korea building. Photo by Human Rights Commission

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) judged that recognizing academy instructor qualifications only for foreigners who graduated from four-year universities is discriminatory and recommended improvements, but the Ministry of Education did not accept this, the commission announced on the 15th.

In a press release on the same day, the NHRCK stated, "The Ministry of Education needs to make more active efforts to eliminate employment discrimination based on nationality," and announced this in accordance with the National Human Rights Commission Act. Previously, in July 2021, the NHRCK recommended the Ministry of Education to revise the qualification criteria for academy instructors in the Enforcement Decree of the Academy Act. At that time, the commission judged in its recommendation decision that "factors affecting the quality of instruction include Korean language proficiency, the instructor's major and its relevance to the academy lecture subject, possession of relevant certifications, and teaching experience or duration, rather than the final academic degree." It also stated, "It is difficult to conclude that foreigners who simply graduated from a four-year university have better Korean communication skills than those who graduated from junior colleges."

However, the Ministry of Education replied that "the reason for stipulating different qualification criteria for foreign academy instructors compared to domestic instructors in the Enforcement Decree of the Academy Act is based on reasonable grounds to prevent poor-quality education due to unqualified instructors, secure high-quality educational services, and protect learners." The NHRCK said, "After discussing the Ministry of Education's reply, considering the standards for judging discriminatory acts and the recommendations in the decision document, we concluded that the Ministry did not accept the NHRCK's recommendation."

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