Child Abuse Standards and State Responsibility in Litigation Enhanced…Urgent Call for Amendments to Three Teacher Protection Laws

On the 6th, the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education (Superintendent Ahn Min-seok) discussed legislative amendment directions at the National Assembly to protect teachers' legitimate educational activities and guarantee students' right to learn.

The 'Parliamentary Forum Urging Amendments to Laws Protecting Educational Activities' was attended by three teacher organizations—the Gyeonggi Teachers' Association, the Gyeonggi Teachers' Union, and the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers Union's Gyeonggi Branch—bringing the voices of the education field into legislative amendment discussions.

The main agenda items of today's forum were the four major legislative tasks: ▲clarification of judgment standards for emotional child abuse ▲strengthening the police's authority to conclude investigations and the effectiveness of education superintendent opinion letters ▲improving the record management system for child abuse-related information systems ▲strengthening state responsibility for lawsuits related to educational activities and responding to false reports.

Kim Min-seok, director of Kim Min-seok's Teacher Rights Counseling Center, who delivered the keynote address, said, "To guarantee students' right to learn, we must improve laws and systems to ensure that teacher rights are substantively protected," and "stable operation of the teacher rights protection officer system and improvement of related laws will achieve an educational community where student rights and teacher rights are mutually respected."

Lee Yu-jin, Chair of the Teachers' Labor Federation's Teacher Rights Committee; Cho Yun-seop, Chair of the Gyeonggi Province Teachers' Organization Confederation's Operational Bylaws Committee; Mo Jeong-ha, Vice-Director of the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers Union's Gyeonggi Branch; Shin Ho-jae, Professor at Gyeonggin National University of Education; Moon Na-yeon, Lawyer at the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education's Teacher Rights Protection Division; and Han Mi-suk, Scholar in Charge at the Teacher Rights Protection Division participated in the discussion.

During the discussion, the limitations of the system confirmed in school sites and investigation and litigation processes were identified, and amendment plans for the 「Child Welfare Act」, the 「Special Act on Punishment for Child Abuse Crimes」, and the 「Special Act for Improvement of Teachers' Status and Protection of Educational Activities」 were discussed.

Seo Young-gyo, Chair of the National Assembly's Legislative and Judicial Committee, who attended the forum, expressed empathy with the necessity of legislative amendments for teacher rights protection and indicated his willingness to facilitate prompt discussion of related bills at the National Assembly.

Superintendent Ahn Min-seok emphasized, "While the Office of Education is making efforts to restore teacher rights, the current system has limitations. Now it is the National Assembly's turn. Amendments to the three laws for teacher rights protection must be realized."