State commission's decision on indirect corporal punishment should be respected

SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- The Appeals Commission for Teachers has ordered the Gyeonggi provincial education board to scrap its punitive measure against a high school teacher who forced two students to prostrate on the ground for four to five seconds as a punishment for making video calls with their mobile phones during class. The commission under the education ministry concluded that the teacher's indirect punishment came "at a time needed for the sake of education" and that it is difficult to determine the degree the indirect punishment went beyond social norms. It is the first time that an official ruling has admitted that indirect punishment for disobedient students is necessary for education if the degree of the punishment is proper. There is continued confusion about the use of indirect punishment in schools. The education ministry has decided to allow the use of indirect punishment of students. The Gyeonggi education board, however, has prohibited the use of indirect punishment in its so-called students' human rights ordinance while the Seoul education board is considering a draft of a similar ordinance. Since the provincial education boards prohibited all corporal punishment for disobedient students, the collapse of teachers' dignity and order in classrooms has accelerated. Controversy over the ban on corporal punishment of students has continued since some progressive educational superintendents announced the measure in July of last year. Critics of the ban said that without alternative measures, it would harm teachers' dignity. In January, the education ministry came out with complementary measures, which allow teachers to hand out "indirect punishments" to disobedient students. Defying the ministry's measures, the progressive superintendents of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province prohibited indirect punishments, and confusion reigned in the schools. It is obvious that the dignity of teachers fell further with the implementation of an all-out ban on corporal punishment in schools this year. According to a survey by the Korean Federation of Teachers Associations (KFTA), the morale of teachers dropped this year. Of the 1,733 teachers polled, 79.5 percent said their job satisfaction and morale had decreased. The rate showed a sharp increase from 55.3 percent and 64.3 percent in surveys taken in 2009 and 2010, respectively. About 40 percent cited the ban on corporal punishment and the enactment of an ordinance on students' human rights as the cause of the collapse in teachers' satisfaction and morale. The teachers said that they faced weakening control over students and increasing disorder in classrooms with students defying instructions due to the ban of corporal punishment and parents' excessive interference. To restore order in schools, the restoration of the dignity of teachers is essential. It is desirable to allow indirect punishment as a minimum means to maintain order and protect the rights of the majority students who want to study in an orderly classroom. The decision of the Appeals Commission should be respected.