Education ministry hurries to dismiss unionized teachers

By Lee Hyo-sik

Staff reporter

The government has instructed regional education offices to dismiss 134 politically-active unionized public school teachers as soon as possible before the newly elected liberal education superintendents take over Seoul and five other key municipal offices next month.

In response, a liberal teachers' group fiercely protested the move, saying it will take all possible measures to stop its members from being punished, including staging a nationwide signature-gathering campaign.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said Wednesday that it ordered district education offices across the nation to take disciplinary action at the earliest date against the 134 unionized teachers indicted by the prosecution last month for having paid dues to the progressive minor Democratic Labor Party (DLP). They are members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union (KTU).

"We are required by law to ask regional education offices to initiate disciplinary steps against those who broke the law within a month after they have been indicted by the prosecution. Accordingly, we asked 16 large municipal education offices on June 4 to form a disciplinary committee to deal with the law-breaking teachers," a senior ministry official said.

The prosecution notified the education ministry of the list of teachers affiliated with the progressive minor opposition party on May 10. Under the law, teachers and other public servants are banned from taking part in political activities and becoming a member of a certain political party.

Within 60 days after being notified by the education ministry, regional education offices are required to set up the committee and decide whether to dismiss or reprimand those indicted for breaking the law.

The ministry had first ordered district offices to discipline the KTU teachers on May 27. But none of them have taken a step forward especially since the June 2 local elections where six out of 16 superintendents' positions were won by liberal-minded candidates, including the superintendent-elect of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Kwak No-hyun.

In response to the ministry's latest move, the KTU has vowed to mobilize all possible measures to prevent the 134 teachers from losing their jobs.

"We will launch a signature-gathering campaign from 400,000 teachers across the country as part of our efforts to counter the government's systematic suppression against us. We will also stage a protest at 16 municipal education offices, calling on them to stop disciplinary actions against our members," a KTU spokesman said.