2023-09-11 08:13:22
A series of teacher choices… Amendment bill for ‘teacher immunity’ presented to National Assembly Welfare Committee
“Suffering from false accusations due to ambiguous provisions”… Child welfare experts are concerned
The Daejeon elementary school teacher who made the extreme choice is buried.
(Daejeon = Yonhap News) Reporter Kang Soo-hwan = On the morning of the 8th, the funeral home of a Daejeon elementary school teacher who made an extreme choice following suffering from malicious complaints, etc., is set up at a funeral home in Seo-gu, Daejeon. 2023.9.8 swan@yna.co.kr
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporters Kim Young-sin, Kwon Ji-hyun and Seo Hye-rim = Recently, a series of cases of extreme choice by teachers have occurred, and the provisions of the Child Welfare Act prohibiting emotional child abuse of children are also being pointed out as a major issue.
Teachers’ groups criticize that the current legal provisions prohibiting emotional child abuse are ambiguous, causing even legitimate student guidance to be treated as abuse and causing excessive reporting and investigation of teachers.
There has been a general consensus on the need for improvement as tragedies over teaching rights have been repeated, but some are concerned that revising the law itself and completely exempting teachers from emotional abuse will defeat the purpose of the law, which is to prevent child abuse.
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According to the education community and the National Assembly on the 11th, teacher organizations such as the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations (KFTA) are revising the so-called ‘4 Acts on Protecting Teacher Rights’ (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Early Childhood Education Act, Teacher Status Act, and Basic Education Act), as well as the Child Welfare Act and the Child Abuse Punishment Act. They are even requesting revisions.
Article 17 of the current Child Welfare Act stipulates that ‘no one shall commit any of the acts falling under any of the following clauses’ in relation to child abuse. And one of the specific acts was ’emotional abuse that harms the child’s mental health and development’ (Article 17, No. 5).
Teachers’ organizations believe that this provision of the law is providing an excuse for students and parents to report false accusations. It is recognized as a problem that the provision in the law that ‘no one shall commit emotional abuse’ without any explanation or exception is ambiguous and is out of touch with the reality of normal student guidance.
In fact, Mr. A, a Daejeon elementary school teacher who recently passed away, has been complaining of pain through child abuse reports and complaints for several years. In the process, a child rights group is known to have expressed an opinion that teacher A’s actions were “emotional abuse,” sparking controversy. It was.
A series of extreme choices made by teachers (CG)
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After a series of incidents, members of the Health and Welfare Committee, a standing committee of the National Assembly in charge of the Child Welfare Act, recently proposed a related amendment.
The amendment to the Child Welfare Act, proposed by People Power Party lawmaker Kang Ki-yoon on the 7th, includes the provision that “emotional abuse is excluded in cases where teachers are involved in guidance on student life.” The intention is to exempt teachers from this provision.
The amendment proposed by Chung Chun-sook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea on the 11th of last month, calls for establishing a dedicated organization and public officials in provincial and provincial offices of education to prevent child abuse that occurs in schools, and having the dedicated organization handle child abuse issues.
Separately, among the four teaching rights laws handled by the National Assembly Education Committee, there is also an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that does not consider teachers’ legitimate guidance in life as a violation of the prohibition of abuse under the Child Welfare Act.
Teachers’ groups argue that not only the four teacher rights laws under the jurisdiction of the Education Commission but also the Child Welfare Act should be revised. However, full-scale discussions on the amendment to the Child Welfare Act have not yet begun at the Welfare Committee.
However, regarding Article 17, Paragraph 5 of the Child Welfare Act, the opinions of teacher groups and child welfare experts are somewhat conflicting.
Welfare experts say that although this provision is somewhat excessive, some point out that amending it to exempt teachers would defeat the purpose of the law.
Lee Bong-ju, a professor of social welfare at Seoul National University, said in a phone call with Yonhap News, “The abuse-related provisions of the Child Welfare Act were designed to prevent abuse and take responsibility for abuse on a national level, so it is excessive to suggest that it be revised on the grounds of violation of teaching rights.” He said.
Professor Lee said, “The problem of child abuse reports being abused once morest teachers must be resolved in the process of receiving and processing reports, but if the law itself is changed, the purpose of preventing emotional abuse may be missed.” He also added, “Recent related discussions have focused on ‘teaching rights and children’s rights.'” He pointed out, “It is not desirable for the situation to unfold in the manner of ‘there is a conflict’.”
Domohyang, a professor of child welfare at Namseoul University, also said, “Exempting teachers from emotional abuse without a clear complement defeats the purpose of the law.” “We need to go this way,” he said.
Currently, once a teacher is reported for child abuse, he or she is subject to disadvantages such as exclusion from work and is subsequently punished, or is found not guilty. There is also a suggestion that there should be an arbitration step that requires expert judgment.
Professor Lee said, “After reporting a teacher, the principle of presumption of innocence must be applied before all details are revealed to prevent unreasonable sanctions,” adding, “Also, the local committee will determine whether reports of child abuse were abused or whether actual abuse occurred.” “There is a need to go through expert judgment,” he said.
Gong Hye-jeong, representative of the Korea Child Abuse Prevention Association, also said, “Currently, there is an ‘all or nothing’ structure in which teachers are forced to suffer for years until the results of the investigation and trial are released,” and added, “An organization such as the Child Abuse Arbitration Committee will carefully mediate whether it constitutes child abuse.” ·There is a need to go through judgment,” he said.
Violation of educational rights (PG)
[강민지 제작] illustration
On the other hand, the education world believes that while the four teacher rights laws are the minimum protection to protect teachers during the investigation phase when they are reported for child abuse, the amendments to the Child Abuse Punishment Act and the Child Welfare Act are fundamental solutions that can prevent reports of child abuse themselves, so they must be passed. The position is that it does.
Kim Dong-seok, head of the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Rights Headquarters, said, “It is a request from the field to protect teachers’ educational activities by improving the reality of suffering from reports of false child abuse due to the ambiguity of emotional abuse even though it is legitimate guidance, but it also extends to the act itself, which is illegal and should not be done as a teacher. “It is never our intention to grant immunity,” he said.
Hwang Yu-jin, head of policy at the Federation of Teachers’ Trade Unions, said, “Teachers’ assault and sexual harassment are naturally punishable by criminal law or laws related to sexual violence crimes. However, the content of emotional child abuse is vague and has many side effects.” “Even if this is revised, it is only a declaration. If a parent files a complaint, the teacher will be punished under the Child Abuse Punishment Act and the Child Welfare Act. The two bills must move together to protect teachers,” he said.
Teachers’ organizations, including the Federation of Teachers, the Teachers’ Union, and the National Teachers and Education Workers’ Union, are planning to hold a press conference in front of the National Assembly on the 13th, when the Education Committee bill subcommittee of the National Assembly is scheduled to meet, and urge passage of the four teacher rights laws and priority processing of the Child Abuse Punishment Act and the Child Welfare Act.
shiny@yna.co.kr
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2023/09/11 17:13 Sent
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