Listing students as bullies tagged as form of violence in itself

By Lee Kyung-min

Listing students as bullies on record is a form of violence in itself, said the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union on Monday.

Teachers held a press conference at the Central Government Complex on Sejong street, and demanded that the recent measure to enter such records be retracted.

“The zero-tolerance policy of the Ministry of Education bruises students. It breeds a culture of tit-for-tat, not of forgiveness and understanding,” said one teacher who participated in the rally.

Others criticized that the current policy is only for distracting the public.

“The Ministry of Education is just trying to avoid the core of the problem. Leaving a record won’t change the situation. It’s only a shallow ploy to blind people from seeing the truth,“ said another participant in the rally.

They said that unless their demands are met, the union will draft a “Declaration of teachers’ refusal against leaving the record.”