November 10- The NHRCK concluded that a teacher’s physically punishing a student and forcing him to give a written promise saying that he would withdraw from school is a violation of human rights.
Mr. Song filed a complaint to the NHRCK in June saying, “My nephew committed suicide in an apartment building near his school. His homeroom teacher had continually scolded him with physical punishment and offensive language. On the day the incident happened, my nephew was late for school. The teacher punished him physically and made him give a written promise that he would withdraw from the school voluntarily if it happened again.”
According to the investigation by the NHRCK, the written promise says, “I vow that if I violate school regulations again, I will endure any punishment and will voluntarily withdraw from the school. I summit this agreement under joint signature of my guardians.” It is also found that the written promise used the name of school principal without an approval. The NHRCK concluded that this is a violation of the freedom of conscience that is stipulated in Article 19 of the Constitution. Also, the teacher violated the regulation of the school, which bans corporate punishment, and this is a violation of personal liberty that is declared in Article 12 of the Constitution.
“The cause of the student’s suicide would be complicated,” the NHRCK said. “However, it is hard to deny the probability that psychological pressure from physical punishment and the written promise affected the student indirectly.”
Given the fact that it is not clearly proven that the teacher’s action was a direct cause of the student’s suicide, the NHRCK recommended △ the Principal of the A high school to warn the respondent teacher, and conduct human rights education for its school personnel, and △ the Governor of the supervising Office of Education to investigate human rights violations against students and prepare a preventive measure to avoid the recurrence of such an incident.
