Award-winning teacher blamed for beating students

By Na Jeong-ju

An elementary school teacher who received an award from the President for educating students well is being criticized for using violence in the classroom although corporal punishment is banned at his school.

According to media reports, the teacher, whose identity was withheld, hit the heads and buttocks of students caught playing with water pistols in a playground last month. The teacher said he did so because they violated the school’s rules that they should not play with toy guns.

He said he used corporal punishment to educate the children, but their parents claim that the teacher didn’t follow the school’s guidelines not to use excessive punishment. The school, located in Gyeonggi Province, banned corporal punishment last year, and introduced alternative discipline, including community service activities.

The regional education office has launched an investigation into the incident after the students filed a joint complaint. The teacher said the ban has weakened teachers’ authority, making it difficult for them to discipline unruly and disobedient students.

The case represents the wide gap in perception between students and teachers on the ban on corporal punishment. The current Education Law acknowledges the need for teachers to use corporal punishment “only for educational purposes.” However, the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education banned such punishment at schools last year as part of efforts to enhance students’ rights.

Most teachers have opposed the new measures because they believe it will make it more difficult to educate students. However students say such punishments infringe on their rights and have nothing to do with education.

“Students often talk to each other, use mobile phones and read comic books during class but teachers have no other way but to reprimand them verbally. They are not obedient anymore,” said a spokesman of the Korean Federation of Teacher’s Associations, the country’s largest conservative teachers’ group. “Of course, that’s the case of only a few students. The problem is that they disrupt the lesson, causing problems for other students.”

The teacher received the Presidential Award for providing counseling services to students. Some students at the school say he has often used violence to educate students.

A recent survey by a civic group on 6,000 students showed some 84 percent of them replying that the ordinance has brought positive changes to their school life.

“The ban is changing the perception of students among teachers and parents. They were the objects of control and regulation in the past, but are being regarded as human beings with individual characters,” said Cho Seong-beom, a civic activist. “Early this year, the office received about 10 to 15 reports of violations each month, but there are fewer reports these days. That’s a big change.”