Party and Government "Student Life Guidance Notice to be Prepared in August... Student Rights Ordinance to be Revised"

Selected as a Key Task: Amendments to Teacher Status Act and Elementary and Secondary Education Act for Teacher Rights Protection

The ruling party and the government have decided to prepare a student guidance ordinance by August that includes standards on the scope and methods of teachers' student guidance to protect and restore teachers' authority. They will also revise the Student Human Rights Ordinance, which has been pointed out as a major cause of violations of teachers' authority.

Lee Tae-gyu, the education committee secretary from the People Power Party, stated on the 26th at the National Assembly after concluding the "Party-Government Council on the Protection and Restoration of Teachers' Authority," "There is a growing social consensus that the broken authority of teachers must be restored. The party and government regard the establishment of teachers' authority as an essential matter to protect all students and a key task to revive public education."

This party-government meeting was convened in response to recent incidents such as an elementary school student assaulting their homeroom teacher and a newly appointed teacher taking an extreme step within the school.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The party and government have prioritized legislative amendments to laws protecting teachers' authority, such as the Teacher Status Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and will expedite these efforts. Lee said, "Additionally, we will continuously identify new legislative tasks and strive to establish teachers' authority."

They also plan to soon prepare an ordinance outlining methods for student guidance. Lee explained, "We will prepare the student guidance ordinance by August and, reflecting its purpose, revise the Student Human Rights Ordinance that infringes on teachers' authority in cooperation with metropolitan and provincial education offices."

Furthermore, in response to concerns about serious complaints from parents toward homeroom teachers, the party and government intend to create guidelines and a complaint response manual. Lee said, "If parents or others interfere with educational activities, we will establish new categories of violations and prepare guidelines and complaint response manuals that utilize phone calls, texts, SNS, etc., to reasonably improve communication standards between parents and teachers."

Regarding the proposal to record serious educational activity violations in students' school records, Lee explained, "Cooperation from the opposition party is necessary." He added, "I believe it is appropriate to record excessive violations of teachers' authority in the school records based on social norms. If the Democratic Party agrees, it can be realized through legislative proposals. I request a progressive change in attitude here."

Additionally, the Ministry of Education said it will prepare alternatives concerning the case of a teacher at Seo-i Elementary School in Seoul who passed away, where the teacher, despite being newly appointed, was burdened with excessive duties such as homeroom responsibilities and the 4th generation education administration information system (NICE). After the party-government meeting, Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, told reporters, "We have heard that new teachers sometimes face excessive workloads. To resolve this, a comprehensive review of how school duties are distributed among members is necessary. I believe there is much room for improvement, and we will prepare and announce improvement plans."

When asked about criticisms that violations of teachers' authority and the Student Human Rights Ordinance are not directly related, Lee rebutted, "That is not true." He elaborated, "Last year, a middle school student lay down next to the teacher during class and used a mobile phone. The reality is that such behavior cannot be stopped. This is a representative case of the Student Human Rights Ordinance being abused." He continued, "If a student who does homework well receives a praise sticker, and a student who does not is accused of child abuse for discrimination, will we allow that reality to continue?"

Attending from the party side were Lee Tae-gyu, Floor Leader Yoon Jae-ok, and Policy Committee Chair Park Dae-chul. From the government side were Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho, First Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Lee Gi-il, and Education Secretary Oh Seok-hwan from the Presidential Secretariat.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly Education Committee plans to hold a plenary meeting on the 28th to conduct urgent inquiries regarding recent incidents and violations of teachers' authority. Lee said, "The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to convene the standing committee to identify causes of the widespread and normalized violations of teachers' authority and find ways to improve the system."

However, there are reportedly disagreements over the attendance of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon and the principals of the schools where the incidents occurred at the standing committee meeting. Lee explained, "The ruling party requested the attendance of the superintendent and the two principals in addition to the minister, but the Democratic Party is passive. They neither clearly refuse nor agree to attend. I have recently spoken several times with Representative Kim Young-ho, the opposition education committee secretary, who said they are coordinating opinions among their members and asked for time, so we are waiting."

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