In 2010, Gyeonggi-do enacted the Ordinance of Human Rights for Students(hereafter 'OHRS') for the first time, and since then the ordinances of human rights for students Gwangju and Seoul have been enacted and enforced by a local government until now in may 2012. Also, a lot of local governments like Gyeongsangnam-do and Jeollabuk-do are trying to establish an ordinance of human rights for students by the aid of citizen and the Office of Education.
The Constitution of the Republic of Korea regulates in the article 10 that all of the people have dignity and value as a human, and have the right to pursue their happiness. A State has the obligation to confirm and to guarantee sacred natural rights of human. In addition, in the Elementary and Secondary Education act, Article 16 states that the fundamental human rights of learners including students must be respected and protected in the process of social education.
And the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 1 states that all human beings are bom free and equal in dignity and rights.
But the human rights which are mentioned in the Constitution, the Fundamentals of Education Act, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are not guaranteed properly in the field of education. The OHRS regulates the particulars about the human rights for students concretely. And its purpose is to guarantee and enhance it. It's the confirmation of the fundamental human right that men have, as stated above in the Constitution, the Fundamentals of Education Act, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In this paper, I am trying to avoid consuming debate on future enactment of an OHRS by reviewing and analyzing the arguments about the issues on it between those who approve and disapprove. And I placed an emphasis on research which studies to find the measures in various aspects and to propose it about the OHRS. Because it should be implemented certainly in reality, not just an enactment.
First of all, I reviewed the legal issues which are related to the critical points of enactment process of the OHRS including special authority relation, relation between the OHRS and laws, autonomy of school, controversial views between the OHRS and teacher's authority, and school counseling and so on.
And I reviewed the issues of each contents which cover prohibition of direct or indirect corporal punishment, shapes and colors of hair, guarantee of freedom of expression, possession of cell-phone and electronic equipment for students, National Education Information System, a chapel education, and guarantee of independent student activities.
On the basis of the above analysis, I suggested substantial implementation measures of the OHRS. Measures which I suggested are followed. First, in the legal point, I proposed the amendment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, enactment of the OHRS, enactment of ordinance with relation to the teacher's authority and guarantee of their human rights. Second, in the institutional aspect, I proposed to respect and guarentee teacher's authority, and remedy of uman rights for students. Third, in the social context, I proposed to improve the educational system that has focused only on university entrance exams and to reorganize the system to respect human rights for students.
At last, I pointed out some limitations of the above proposed implementation measures.
On the basis of this stance, in the text, I am giong to describe the subject of this paper concretely.