KFTA Newsletter 2014 No. 1
KFTA, "The Direct Election of Superintendent Infringes the Fundamental Rights" On August 14th, 2014, the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA), 17 regional teachers' associations, pan-national support group consisting of 33,740 supporters, 2,451 claimants including students, teachers, parents, and candidates of superintendent of education, held a joint press conference in front of the Constitutional Court of Korea to request an adjudication on constitutional complaint against direct election of superintendent of education. The KFTA asserts that the direct election of superintendent infringe the following fundamental rights that are stated in the Constitution of the Republic of Korea: students' right to learn.; teachers' right to teach: freedom of job performance and educators' and education professionals' right to hold a public office; and parents' right to have freedom and equality in educating their children.
Ahn Yang Ok, the president of the KFTA, is reading the press conference statements in front of the Constitutional Court of Korea to request an adjudication on constitutional complaint against direct election of superintendent of education. (KFTA)
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KFTA Newsletter 2014 No. 1
1. What is requesting the Constitutional Court adjudication on constitutional complaint?
According to Article 68 (Grounds for Request)(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, "Any person whose fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution is infringed due to exercise or non-exercise of the public power, excluding judgment of the court, may request the Constitutional Court an adjudication on constitutional complaint."
2. What is direct election of superintendent system? It is a system that permits the local residents to vote for the superintendent of education. Since June, 2010, Korea adopted this system and has since elected two superintendents of education in 2010 and 2014.
3. The problems of current direct election system
A. It is against the Constitution of the Republic of Korea. ㆍArticle 31 Clause 4 states that “Independence, professionalism and political impartiality of education and the autonomy of institutions of higher learning shall be guaranteed under the conditions as prescribed by Act”. The direct election of superintendent does not abide by the above article and only takes account of the local autonomy stated in the Article 117 Clause 1: "Local governments shall deal with administrative matters pertaining to the welfare of local residents, manage properties, and may enact provisions relating to local autonomy, within the limit of Acts and subordinate statutes." ㆍThe current kindergarten, primary, and secondary teachers cannot register as candidates for the superintendent of education, which limits fundamental rights of teachers as individual citizens of this nation. ㆍEquivalent to the appointment of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Public Prosecutor General, which guarantees the professionalism of the profession, the professionalism and political impartiality of education should be guaranteed and 2
KFTA Newsletter 2014 No. 1
therefore allow the superintendent of education to be properly appointed free of any political influence. ㆍThe direct election of superintendent was heavily influenced by the two political parties, clearly disregarding the Constitution that highlights the political impartiality of education.
B. It is based on the political grounds of the ruling and the opposition party. ㆍBoth the direct election of superintendents in 2010 and in 2014 showed distinct political positions of candidates which had the key influence on the result of the election. ㆍRather than considering the candidates' professional experiences in education or their distinct educational policies, their political positions were the priority in the direct election processes. It was clear which party the candidates belonged to, but their educational policies were often overlooked as arbitrary. ㆍStatistically, the direct election of superintendent costed 73 billion won, which is 1.7 times more than the election of city mayors and governors (45.6 billion won).
C. It is allowing voters who are not interested in education to choose candidates for the students and teachers. ㆍThe election of superintendents was held on the same day as the election of city mayors and governors, and thus was given less attention and importance. ㆍ Both elections in 2010 and in 2014 showed low interest in the candidates and the actual election of superintendents. Based on the survey by the National Election Commission (NEC) in 2010, only 41.5% of the voters were actually interested in the election for superintendents, whereas 58.5% were not interested in the process or the candidates:
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KFTA Newsletter 2014 No. 1
36.1
(measure : %)
28.9
22.4 12.5
very interested
interested
not interested
not interested at all
Interest of voters in election for superintendents (NEC, 2010)
D. It is an additional political field for unnecessary negative campaining. �Similar to political campaigns, the candidates for the superintendent of education used negative campaigning against each other about the military service or previous convictions of contenders.
�Superintendents of education are leaders who have an immense impact on the educational policy and learning environment for students and are expected to show high morality as the chief in education by maintaining the independence, professionalism, and political impartiality of education.
E. It is threatening the security of schools with the experimental policies and policies based on the exaggerated social welfare. �The populism of tackling the school welfare and making everything free of charge to gain votes in election 2010 was repeated in 2014. The opposition party overused the 'free-of-charge-policy', where 'free uniform and sportswear', 'abolition of outdoor activity and school material fee', and 'free bus' are only a few examples of their policy.
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KFTA Newsletter 2014 No. 1
KFTA, "Severe Protest against the Closed Door Reformation Plan of the Civil Servant Pension"
Ahn Yang Ok (center), the president of the KFTA, is protesting against the reform of the civil servant pension along with other HJP members in front of the community service center in Cheongeun-hyoja Dong.
'The headquarter for a joint protest against the reform of the civil servant pension (HJP)', which consists of the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA), the Korean Government Employees' Union (KGEU), and Confederation of Korean Government Employees' Unions, showed a strong resistance to the reforms of the civil servant pension jointly proposed by the ruling Saeunuri Party and the Korea Pension Association. The
proposed reforms suggest raising subscribers' premiums up to 20% and a drastic cut in the return rate. HJP required to configurate a social consultative group to restore the civil servant pension and further proclaimed to protest if the government were to attempt the undesirable reforms on the pension scheme. HJP also held a press conference in front of the community
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service center in Cheongeun-hyoja Dong, Seoul demanding an immediate end to the closeddoor session between the government and the ruling Saeunuri Party.
The co-chairperson of HJP, Ahn Yang-ok, who is also the president of the KFTA said, "despite the official statement made by the government in May before the regional election that there will be no reform in the civil pension scheme, there have been attempts to reform the pension plan without any further notice to the party concerned. It is by all means a serious problem that the government has used the public pension for several different purposes and are now shifting their responsibility to the civil servants.“
HJP required the government and the ruling party a) to reveal the main cause of deficit in the public pension plan, b) to immediately end instigating malicious distortion of the civil servant pension to the public and to restore the public pension plan, and c) to form a social consultative group on the public pension plan, where the concerned civil servants can freely participate.
"We feel a strong animosity towards the government and the ruling party for attempting to reform the civil servant pension plan behind the closed doors without any notice to the civil servants who are the party most interested in the matter. The pension plan should look like a pension plan," HJP said in a statement.
"The civil servant pension is the life line after the retirement for the civil servants and reforming it to keep "fairness" with the national pension is an absurdity. The government increased the national pension payment to 9 percent and decreased the return rate to 40 percent for no good cause and is now trying to decrease the civil servant pension to the national pension rate," added HJP.
Lee Chungjae, the chairperson of KGEU, also stated "the proposals made by the Korea Pension Association, which the private insurance companies also have participated in, include intentions to absorb the features of the public pensions into the private pensions." Lee further warned that "if the government and the ruling party do not immediate stop their 6
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attempt to reform the civil servant pension plan, we will initiate a rally with the entire 1 million civil servants."
HJP, including the KFTA filed a protest letter on the above subject to Cheong Wa Dae after the press conference.
The KFTA is planning to hold a National Education Leaders Resolution Rally on November 1st.
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KFTA Newsletter 2014 No. 1
KFTA’s Protection Activity for Educational Autonomy ❐Objective - In South Korea, educational autonomy is the most fundamental legal and institutional strategy to ensure professionalism in education and maintain stability in educational activities. In particular, it is crucial for teachers to develop proper educational activities in their schools and to exercise educational rights given to them. - However, there has been a strong political movement against educational autonomy recently, which has seriously undermined educational professionalism and caused a major setback in ensuring the rights and educational activities of teachers. - Hence, teachers in unions are taking firm actions to protect educational autonomy in the country.
❒ Current situation - Independence, professionalism and political neutrality in education are specified in Article 31, Section 4 of the Constitution of Korea, which is very rare worldwide. -When the Local Education Autonomy Act was enacted in 1991, twenty-year experience (career) in education was required for a superintendent candidate in order to ensure the professionalism of municipal and provincial superintendents of schools. Due to expanded choices of local residents, the qualification requirement of work experience for candidates in superintendent election in June, 2010 was reduced to five years. As the Local Education Autonomy Act was revised in the same year, the requirement of career years would not be applied at all from the election in June 2014. ※ Career year requirement for superintendent candidates: 20 years (1991) → 15 years (1995) → 5 years (1997) → Abolished (2014) - The Local Education Board policy is also expected to be abolished after June 2014, due to the revision of Local Education Autonomy Act in 2010. In this case, general members of municipal and provincial assemblies who are mostly affiliated with political parties are going to make deliberations and decisions on education and schools. It represents a risk where local education may be dominated by political logics. The check and balance function for superintendents of schools may also be weakened as political impartiality and professionalism in education are damaged. 8
KFTA Newsletter 2014 No. 1
â?? KFTA's major activities - Have continuously visited the National Assembly and proposed the revision of Local Education Autonomy Act - January 16, 2014 Held a joint press conference with the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union (KTU) at the National Assembly for the improvement of Local Autonomy Law and the protection of educational autonomy - January 23, 2014 Resolved and declared a national campaign for the protection of educational autonomy and proper revision of the Local Education Autonomy Act with 67 education, parents, civil society organizations in front of the National Assembly gate - February 7-26, 2014 Staged a relay hunger strike with KTU and Local Education Board Convention to call for the maintenance of Local Education Boards in front of the ruling Saenuri party headquarters
< A joint press conference for Educational Autonomy >
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KFTA Newsletter 2014 No. 1
< A relay hunger strike for Educational Autonomy >
â?? KFTA's activity results - Education experience for over three years was revived as a qualification requirement for the candidates of provincial and metropolitan superintendents of schools. * To be applied to elections after July 1, 2014 - Matters regarding the Local Education Board system are under deliberation of the Special Committee on Political Reforms. As of the Regional Election in June, 2014, the Local Education Board system was abolished. *No additional educational committee will be elected.
114 Taebongno, Seocho-ku, Seoul The Republic of Korea (137-715)
KFTA The Korean Federation of Teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Associations President
Tel +82 2 570 5575~7 Fax +82 2 3461 0433 www.kfta.or.kr kfta2@kfta.or.kr
Ahn, Yang-Ok Secretary General
Baek, Bok-Sun
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