Human Rights Commission: "Unauthorized Disclosure of Student Grades by University Professors Is a Human Rights Violation"

A university professor's unauthorized disclosure of a student's grades to a third party has been deemed a violation of human rights.

Yonhap News

On the 29th, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea announced that making students' names and grades public to the entire class constitutes an infringement on the right to personal dignity and privacy, as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Previously, a student who filed a complaint with the commission had raised an objection regarding their grade to the professor after a university course. However, during this process, the professor sent an email to all students in the class, which included the scores, evaluation details, and grades of four students, including the complainant.

Regarding this, the professor explained, "I was not familiar with how to use the school's system and, in the rush to process the matter via email, I failed to remove personal information before sending it to all students." The professor promised to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.

However, the professor was dismissed due to the expiration of their contract with the university. The university stated that it would take follow-up measures in accordance with the commission's decision.

The commission emphasized, "This decision highlights the importance of protecting students' personal information in the process of handling grades at universities," adding, "Grades can affect an individual's social reputation, and their disclosure to third parties can lead to serious human rights violations."

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