Is dating taboo at school?

By Lee Hyo-sik

Eight out of 10 middle and high schools nationwide were found to have been maintaining rules disciplining students for engaging in relationships or physical contact with the opposite sex, a rights advocacy group for teenagers said Tuesday.

According to a report issued by “Asunaro” (https://cafe.naver.com/asunaro), 286 secondary schools out of 354 across the country, or 81 percent, have internal regulations preventing students from dating or having physical contact with those of the opposite gender.

In Yangpyong County, Gyeonggi Province, all middle and high schools are found to have rules against dating among students, with 119 out of 142 schools in Busan maintaining similar guidelines that specifically reprimand those engaging in relationships with fellow students.

Asunaro said the education authorities and schools have been infringing upon the students’ rights, stressing that they should scrap regulations banning on-campus relationships.

“All that the schools care about is creating overly strict rules and punishing students for dating. Teenagers should be allowed to exercise their rights over their own sexuality both inside and outside schools,” an Asunaro official said.

The group also said that some schools even prohibited students from exchanging gifts on birthdays and other special occasions.

“Students with a boyfriend or a girlfriend are forced to write a report about their relationship and schools break up social clubs if members are caught dating. Just like adults, teens are human beings and should be given the right to choose what they want to do.”

It then said schools should abolish the “discriminatory” rules against students and respect their rights to their own sexuality, as well as provide them with more practical sex education.

According to Asunaro, two students recently quit an Incheon high school voluntarily because of rules suspending those caught three times for dating, while one middle school in Gwangju called in all students involved in relationships with boyfriends or girlfriends to one place and ordered them to stop the behavior.

교정에서 연애는 금기인가?

화요일 청소년 인권단체인 아수나로에 의하면 전국적으로 10개 중학교 고등학교 중에 8군데가 학생들 사이 연애 및 신체접촉에 제재를 가하는 학칙을 제정하고 하고 있다.

전국 354개 중고등학교중 286 군데가 혹은 81%가 이성과 연애 또는 신체접촉을 제재하는 규칙을 마련하고 실행하고 있는 것으로 밝혀졌다.

아수나로는 교육당국 및 학교는 학생들의 성적 자율권을 침해하고 있으며 연애를 금지하고 있는 학칙을 없애야 한다고 주장하고 있다