than a formality. NHRCK, in relation to the restriction on students' hair length or style,
recommended in 2005 that a forced hair cut against the student's voluntary will
constitutes a breach of human rights and students' hair length and style should be
controlled or restricted at school to the minimum extent necessary to fulfill the purpose
of education so long as the students' views are substantially taken into account.
Additionally, NHRCK, determining that the practice of attaching a name tag to the
school uniform might violate students' privacy, recommended the measures to improve
the practice (in 2009). It also made recommendations on revision of the school
regulations that forbid students to carry cell phones at school (in 2007) or prohibit them
from using cell phones during non-class hours (2010).
42. The Government should ensure that school authorities revise the school
regulations or take other actions, based on children's substantial participation, to
guarantee their freedom of privacy and that their privacy is not restricted
arbitrarily by the school authorities and teachers.
4. Right to be Free from Torture and Other Inhumane Treatment (Article 37
(1) of CRC)
Corporal Punishment at Schools (CRC/C/KOR/3-4, para. 144~145 and 184;
CRC/C/KOR/Q/3-4, para. 28)
43. Under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act which was revised in
March 2011, ‘guidance should be provided regarding forms of discipline or admonition
which are in accordance with the school regulations, do not either use a tool or body
part or cause students physical pain.’ The Ministry of Education, Science and
Technology once gave a few examples of discipline or admonition neither using a tool
or body part nor causing physical pain: standing in the back of the classroom, with or
without the hands raised; push-ups; or running around in the playground. However, the
dividing line is blurred here. Besides, it cannot be said that the forms which do not use a
tool or body part are always safer or less painful than the forms using a tool or body part.
Even when a form of discipline or admonition does not result in a serious physical pain,
it still causes mental pain. The General Comment No. 8 of the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child defines "corporal" or "physical" punishment as "any punishment in
which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort,
however light.” In light of this definition, the forms of discipline or punishment that do
not use a tool or body part or cause physical pain may be also problematic. Moreover,
absence of physical contact through use of tools or body parts in punishment does not
mitigate its effect of human rights violations and detrimental nature of corporal
punishment. In this light, NHRCK stated in March 2010 that it was not desirable to
acknowledge the types of corporal punishment that do not use tools or body parts and
provide for those types in the school regulations. Previously in September 2002, the
NHRCK expressed the view that corporal punishment should be totally banned.
44. The Government should revise the Enforcement Ordinance of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act to expressly ban the types of
punishment that may cause children physical or mental pain, and should make
consistent efforts to find and realize alternative forms of discipline.
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