Ordinance on students’ human rights gets mixed evaluations

By Na Jeong-ju

One year has passed since the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education enforced an ordinance on students’ human rights, but it still remains controversial.

The ordinance bans corporal punishment and nighttime lessons at schools. It also allows students to decide on their hairstyle, clothing, mobile phone use and various other matters.

Some agree that the measure has helped raise social awareness on human rights violations at schools, but others say it made it difficult for teachers to educate students.

Opinions are also sharply divided between students and groups advocating teachers’ rights.

According to the office, a survey on 6,000 students and 1,500 teachers and school officials showed some 84 percent of the students replied that the ordinance has brought positive changes to their school life. About 55 percent of the teachers also said they regard it positively.

“The ordinance 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 independent characteristics,” 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.”

However, there are still concerns that the ban on corporal punishment has weakened teachers’ authority at schools and made it more difficult for teachers to deal with unruly students. The office has introduced alternative measures to discipline students, including community service activities.

“Students often talk to each other, use mobile phones and read comic books during classes, but teachers have no other way but to caution 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 classes, causing problems for other students.”

Gyeonggi’s liberal education chief Kim Sang-gon said the human rights ordinance has pros and cons, but in the long term, will reshape the relationship between teachers and students in a positive way.

“Students will learn how to regulate themselves, instead of just being forced to follow instructions or decisions by schools and teachers, which is still the case in almost all schools,” Kim said in a ceremony to mark the one-year anniversary of the ordinance.