By Kang Shin-who
Staff reporter
Do elementary school students have the right to hold rallies? Do teachers have the right to keep them from picketing the school?
On the issue, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea sided with the students. It recommended a school principal to reprimand the teachers who had blocked a rally by taking the placards from student protesters in 2008.
“The teacher confiscated placards from the students even though they were holding a rally peacefully before the start of class. It was a breach of the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution,” the human rights agency said.
According to the agency, an elementary school in Gangdong-gu, Seoul dismissed a homeroom teacher, identified as Choi, for allowing students to go on a field trip instead of taking the state-run standardized test on Dec. 17, 2008.
In response, some of his students formed a picket line to demand that their homeroom teacher be reinstated. The agency’s decision drew criticism from the conservative Korean Federation of Teachers Association (KFTA).
“It is a decision that overemphasizes the general rights of students but does not reflect elementary students’ capability of judgment, their intellectual levels and each school’s situation,” it said in a statement. “It amounts to ‘human rights populism” that neglects duty and responsibility in the name of protecting human rights.”
The clash between the human rights agency and the nation’s largest teachers’ group is just the tip of the iceberg.
The entire educational arena seems to be falling into a whirlwind of confusion and conflict as liberal forces which have been suppressed since the inception of the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration are raising their voices following their victory in the June 2 local elections.
Not only the human rights agency but the judiciary is also handing down rulings in favor of liberal educators.
Earlier this week, a court acquitted liberal Gyeonggi’s top educator Kim Sang-gon of charges that he neglected his duty by not following the education ministry’s order to punish teachers who issued an anti-government statement.
The ruling is expected to give progressive education superintendents fresh impetus to push their liberal policies, including the establishment of a student rights ordinance that will ban corporal punishment and lift restrictions on hair length and allow more freedom of style, among other things.
Superintendent Kim has expressed his will to apply student rights ordinances at schools. Kim stressed that corporal punishment should be banned in Korea and he is considering introducing alternative programs to replace physical punishment.
He is positive about the passage of the ordinance at the gubernatorial council. At the same time, Seoul’s liberal Superintendent Kwak No-hyun is also moving to take steps to protect students’ rights.
They also plan to eliminate programs they think are designed to boost unnecessary competition. After-school supplementary classes will no longer be compulsory.
Also, students will be free from restrictions regarding the possession and use of mobile phones in school, and they are allowed to pick and choose religious classes. Kim, who is in his second term, proposed the ordinance last March but it was halted at the provincial council, which was dominated by conservative members at that time.
However, after the June 2 elections, liberal members are dominating in the congress, raising the possibility of the passage of the ordinance.
Kwak says he will implement the student’s rights ordinance from next year. Their move is facing strong resistance from many principals, teachers and conservative civic groups that argue that the liberalization steps would make it harder to control students.
They say pupils are immature and need discipline.
“Students are in the process of learning and developing. Therefore, they should not be viewed in the same light as adults. Just like we don’t give voting rights to the youth, restricting students’ of some rights is not always non-educational,” the KFTA said.