hankyoreh

center front

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST), under Minister Ahn Byung-man, made the decision to dismiss all 134 current public school teachers indicted by prosecutors on May 6. The teachers were indicted on charges that included membership in the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP). This large-scale dismissal of members of the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers Union (KTU, Jeon Gyo Jo) marks the first time more than 100 KTU teachers have been forced out since the union was legally recognized in 1999.

During a meeting of nationwide metropolitan and provincial office of education inspection section chiefs on May 19, MEST decided to apply “punishment by removal” measures (removal or dismissal) to all 134 currently serving public school teachers, with the exception 14 who have resigned, among the 183 total teachers indicted by prosecutors on charges such as DLP membership and making donations to politicians, the ministry announced Sunday. For the 35 private school teachers, it plans to call on the respective school foundations to terminate or dismiss the teachers. The ministry also plans to take heavy disciplinary measures, including suspension, against four teachers for whom prosecutors suspended indictment.

“Because violations of the prohibition of political activity, such as party membership and party dues payment, fall under the category of ‘instances where the degree of impropriety is severe and deliberate,’ removal measures are unavoidable,” a MEST official said.

MEST plans to take especially stringent disciplinary action against teachers who were already disciplined last year for participating in an emergency statement against the current administration’s policies, viewing this as a “repeated and deliberate violation of the duty of political neutrality.” As such, the fifty teachers that participated in an emergency statement are to be terminated, while the remaining 84 are to be removed.

“The government’s disciplinary measures were a politically motivated act of retaliation prior to the June 2 regional elections,” said KTU. “We will use all of the organization’s capacities to fight back.”

“It is not true that union members were registered with the DLP, and donations were made to individual politicians rather than the party,” KTU also said. “We will contest these allegations to prove the facts of the case and the question of illegality in court.”

MEST’s decision to enact a large-scale dismissal and removal of teachers during the prosecution’s indictment stage has sparked controversy.

A number of those who have been indicted have denied that they are dues-paying members of the DLP, and additionally, in many of cases of currently serving vice commissioners and principals arrested in connection with a variety of educational improprieties, they have not been disciplined because their trials were still under way.

“Educational authorities disciplined only a few of the principals and commissioners caught up in the ‘spoils’ scandal that rocked the nation in March, citing the reason that litigation was still under way,” said KTU spokesman Eum Min-yong. “The fact that they decided to proceed with removals or dismissals against only the indicted KTU teachers before a verdict was issued is both an act of revenge stemming from hatred of KTU, which has criticized the government’s mistakes, and political opportunism aimed at the June 2 regional elections and educational superintendent elections.”

“If things are handled by metropolitan and provincial office of education disciplinary committees, the level and schedule of discipline will be irregular, causing fairness issues,” said Lee Nan-yeong, director of the MEST’s teacher group cooperation team, to the contrary. “On an important case such as this one, we viewed it as proper to decide upon equal disciplinary measures through discussions.”

Lee also said the ministry had determined that no controversial proceedings would take place during the trial process, since prosecutors even confirmed party membership identification numbers for the indicted. “If the court rules later on that there was insufficient evidence or that they cannot be judged guilty of a crime, then the teachers can just file reinstatement suits,” Lee said.

KTU claims that government pressure on its member teachers has become more severe since the Lee Myung-bak administration took office. In 2008, the first year of President Lee’s term, thirteen teachers were terminated or dismissed after refusing to take part in the ilje gosa, Nationwide Scholastic Achievement Assessment Test, revived after being ended ten years before.

In the case of teachers’ emergency statements, which previous administrations did not take issue with, a total of 34 KTU teachers have forced out to date, with fifteen either removed or dismissed.

This decision to remove or dismiss another 134 teachers because of “political activities” such as DLP membership means that a total of 168 teachers will have been forced out in the space of two years and six months during the Lee administration.

Observers have said that these actions are sufficient to recall once again memories from the era of the military dictatorship in the late 1980s, when teachers were subjected to severe disciplinary measures simply for belonging to KTU.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]