Gyeongnam Office of Education Calls for Improvement of Current School Violence Prevention Act

Proposal to Improve Protection System for Affected Students to the Ministry of Education

Shortening Appeal Litigation Period and Mandating Support for Relationship Restoration

The Gyeongnam Office of Education plans to propose the legalization of support for school violence relationship restoration to the Ministry of Education and revise internal regulations.

According to the provincial Office of Education, the so-called "School Violence Prevention Act," officially the "Act on the Prevention and Countermeasures against School Violence," has been criticized for inadequate protection of victim students because if the perpetrator student appeals against the measures decided by the School Violence Deliberation Committee, the implementation of those measures is suspended.

The provincial Office of Education stated that it has taken action to eliminate blind spots in the School Violence Prevention Act to help and protect the full recovery of students who have suffered from school violence.

Gyeongnam Office of Education Brand Slogan Ai Joha Flag.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

The contents of the provincial Office of Education's proposal to the Ministry of Education include ▲ shortening the appeal litigation period related to school violence ▲ guaranteeing victim students the opportunity to participate in administrative lawsuits ▲ and mandating support for school violence relationship restoration.

The provincial Office of Education pointed out that if the perpetrator side proceeds with appeal procedures such as administrative appeals or administrative lawsuits, causing a prolonged difficulty in enforcing the disposition, it becomes difficult to properly protect the victim students of school violence.

Therefore, it proposes to the Ministry of Education to establish a "special (shortened) regulation on the filing period for appeal litigation and the processing period for administrative lawsuits."

The provincial Office of Education also stated that under the current School Violence Prevention Act, victim students cannot be informed of the progress of the perpetrator student's administrative lawsuit.

It explained that schools and education support offices have no grounds to notify victim students of the filing of administrative lawsuits, so victim students do not even have the opportunity to present their opinions to the court.

It emphasized that a "litigation notification and legal counsel system" is necessary to guarantee victim students the opportunity to participate in school violence administrative lawsuits.

The provincial Office of Education pointed out that legal measures alone cannot fundamentally solve school violence.

Accordingly, it has operated a school violence relationship restoration support group, which has helped restore 430 victim students in 137 related cases over the past five months and encouraged perpetrator students to take voluntary responsibility.

It reiterated that through the "mandatory regulation for relationship restoration support at the early stage of school violence occurrence," schools' educational capacity should be restored and the recovery and guidance functions for students involved in school violence should be strengthened.

The provincial Office of Education said it would revise the "school violence perpetrator student transfer work implementation guidelines," arguing that even if a perpetrator student receives a transfer disposition, if a suspension of execution is granted, there is no basis for separating the victim and perpetrator students.

Considering that a considerable amount of time will be required until the suspension of execution is granted even if the perpetrator student appeals, it plans to enforce the transfer disposition immediately from the time the deliberation committee's disposition is notified.

The Administrative Appeals Committee, which was held once a month, will be held twice a month starting in April to promptly remedy the rights of victim students of school violence.

Song Ho-chan, Director of the Democratic Citizenship Education Division, said, "The problem of school violence cannot be solved merely by strengthening the punishment of perpetrator students," adding, "When the guidance and educational functions of the School Violence Prevention Act work properly, schools become peaceful and safe."

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