Ministry of Education to Promote Amendment of Student Human Rights Ordinance and Inclusion in School Records

Announcement of Measures at Meeting on Protecting and Restoring Teacher Authority
Criticism of Issues in the 'Student Human Rights Ordinance'
Promise to Strengthen Response System for Malicious Complaints

After the occurrence of the 'Seoi Elementary School Incident,' the Ministry of Education will prepare a public notice outlining the appropriate scope and methods of teachers' rightful guidance in daily life, and will also promote the revision of the Student Human Rights Ordinance as well as the recording of cases of infringement on teachers' rights in school life records.

Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, held a field meeting with teachers on the protection and restoration of teachers' rights at the Teachers' Union Federation in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the 24th, stating, "The Ministry of Education is taking the current situation very seriously." This meeting was held in response to the incident on the 18th at an elementary school located in Seocho-gu, Seoul, where an elementary school teacher took their own life.

Minister Lee promised to prepare a Ministry of Education public notice by next month that specifies the concrete scope and methods of daily guidance. He also pointed out problems with the Student Human Rights Ordinance and announced that the ordinance revision would be pursued concurrently. He said, "Student human rights and teachers' rights are not conflicting or opposing but rights that should be mutually respected. Nevertheless, since the enactment of the Student Human Rights Ordinance, students' rights have been excessively emphasized, causing teachers' rights to rapidly decline and public education to collapse."

Earlier that morning, President Yoon Suk-yeol also instructed through the Senior Secretary Meeting, "Since the revision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and its enforcement decree, adopted as a national agenda to strengthen teachers' rights, has recently been completed, promptly prepare the Ministry of Education public notice as a concrete guideline for the field." He also ordered, "In consultation with the ruling party and local governments, concurrently promote the revision of unreasonable local ordinances that infringe on teachers' rights."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Along with this, Minister Lee pledged specific institutional improvements to establish teachers' rights. He mentioned holding school teachers' rights protection committees upon request by affected teachers, immediate separation from offending students, and expanding the coverage of teachers' liability insurance.

He also stated that serious infringements on educational activities would be recorded in school life records to strengthen accountability for offending students. Minister Lee pledged to cooperate to ensure that amendments to the Child Welfare Act and the Child Abuse Punishment Act, aimed at improving the practice of immediate suspension upon mere reports of child abuse, can be passed by the National Assembly.

To protect teachers from malicious complaints by some parents, he promised to improve the complaint response system by preparing a complaint response manual in cooperation with metropolitan and provincial offices of education.

Minister Lee said, "The issue of protecting and restoring teachers' rights can be sufficiently resolved by thoroughly analyzing the root causes, improving the system, and having students, parents, and teachers fulfill their responsibilities and work together." He added, "We will do our utmost to restore teachers' rights and strengthen educational activities."

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