By Han Sang-hee
The controversy over indirect corporal punishment is heating up again with some liberal superintendents balking at the education ministry’s enforcement ordinance that allows teachers to order students to do push-ups or run laps.
The education offices at Seoul, and Gyeonggi, Gangwon and North Jeolla provinces refused the enforcement ordinance, claiming that it was out of line with the students’ rights ordinance that states any type of physical punishment is prohibited.
The revised enforcement ordinance went into effect March 18, and the ministry will have the education offices inform schools about the new rules regarding indirect physical punishment.
The document states that corporal punishment using a tool or hands is forbidden, but the schools will be allowed the autonomy to decide on ways to discipline unruly students.
The four education offices rejected the ordinance altogether, saying that even indirect physical punishment violates students’ rights.
In the case of Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, which has already enacted its own regulations regarding students’ rights, if any school in the area changes the school regulations that allow indirect punishment, it will consider the act a violation and impose necessary restrictions.
“In view of the hierarchy of the laws, our ordinance may follow the ministry’s enforcement ordinance, but there is an exception when it comes to fundamental human rights such as personal liberty,” said Cho Byeong-rae, spokesperson of the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education.
Education offices in Seoul, and Gangwon and North Jeolla provinces are also planning to prohibit indirect punishment through their superintendent’s authorization.
The offices in South Jeolla Province and Gwangju, which are also led by liberal superintendents, have decided to discuss the issue before making a final decision.
The education ministry is looking into legal action if regional education offices ignore the enforcement ordinance.
“Going against the ordinance is not the superintendent’s authority,” an official from the education ministry said.
The controversy is in line with the ongoing dispute between the liberal superintendents and the ministry. In January, the ministry came up with a set of measures stating the need for indirect corporal punishment to control unruly students.
This was actually going against the Seoul education office’s plans to completely ban all forms of corporal punishment at the time. The measures considered as indirect punishment were running laps, standing in the back of the classroom or being sent to be alone in a separate room.
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