An ordinance permitting the use of indirect corporal punishments to students in Elementary and Middle schools has come into effect recently, but the Departments of Education in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, Gangwon-do, and Jeollabuk-do plan not to permit this form of punishment from now on.
Department of Education stated that, “the final status of the revision of last year’s Primary and Secondary school regulations agree with the student’s rights ordinance forbidding all forms of corporal punishment in all Gyeongi-do Elementary and Middle schools. In the cases of some principals who chose to continue to have rules allowing indirect corporal punishment by asking permission from their superintendents, they will be persuaded to change this. Since the high-ranking ordinance was revised should it not be fixed to accord with the students rights they asked, saying “Students rights are being reduced from a high-ranking law to a low-ranking one, while at the same time we are getting advice on legislation expanding the scope of the coverage. Since the ordinance also carries legal binding force, if schools choose regulations out of step with the ordinance, administrative and financial restrictions can be imposed.”
Earlier on the 14th, the government opened a cabinet meeting and agreed on a revision to the Elementary and Middle school law ordinance which contained the clause ‘forbidding the use of methods using a tool or the body to cause pain in the body of a student (when disciplining students).’ This ordinance came into effect on the 18th.
But in Seoul’s case, the student right’s ordinance prohibits all corporal punishment including indirect corporal punishment similar to that in force in Gyeonggi-do. This is because the Seoul Department of Education removed the clause permitting the use of corporal punishment in the Elementary, Middle and High school regulations. According to the ordinance the front line schools can bring back the removed clause about corporal punishment, but the Seoul Department of Education is of that position not to permit them. The Department of Education stated that, “In the situation that school regulations permitting corporal punishment are submitted, the superintendant plan to not permit them by using their power to authorize school rules proscribed by the Elementary and Middle school Education Law.
Gangwon-do’s Department of Education recently announced last November a ‘basic proposal on school regulation’ that forbid all forms of corporal punishment and stipulated that corporal punishment is forbidden in the school regulations of all Elementary, Middle and High schools. Gangwon-do Department of Education’s Choe Seunglyong indicated, “every primary and secondary school in the province revised its school regulations to forbid the use of corporal punishment.” Jeollabuk-do Department of Education also recommended the schools forbid corporal punishment in the school regulations. The regulations on school life are the embodiment of the contents related to the human rights and the student’s school environment proscribed in the basic articles of the school regulations.
About this Ministry of Education’s School Culture department said, “the revised ordinance of the Elementary and Middle School education law at its core guarantees the power for the members of the school to choose contents related to student’s human rights in the school regulations. In case the school principals with the agreement of the schools members request permission to allow ‘Educational Punishments’ in the school regulations is out of step with the policy of the Department of Education but it would not be proper to not allow them this. However the Ministry of Education advised that they are not considering separate legal actions against those cities or provinces that forbid the use of indirect corporal punishment.
Movement to Enact Student’s Human Rights Ordinance Seoul Office Assistant Administrator Jeon Nuri pointed out that, “While referencing Educational Punishments, the Ministry of Education should not raising this indirect corporal punishment controversy but instead be giving some concretely applicable plan to guarantee student’s rights.”
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