Meaning of Supreme Court ruling: “Reporting abuse for raising a student’s arm... legitimate education”

According to recently released data from the Ministry of Education, the number of reports of child abuse against teachers filed from September last year to June this year was 159. The investigative agency reportedly dismissed 111 cases, or about 70% of them, without prosecution. The number of cases in which teachers were prosecuted was 24, or 15%.

As the debate surrounding ‘child abuse’ continues in the educational field, a recent ruling from the Supreme Court is attracting attention.

The circumstances of the incident are as follows. Teacher A was teaching a class on the topic ‘What to do if you’re sick’ in an elementary school classroom in 2019. At that time, the class was conducted in a way that students formed groups and discussed, and the group representative presented related content.

Student B's group decided on a presenter through rock, paper, scissors, and in this process, Student B was selected as the presenter. However, Student B, who was dissatisfied with this, sulked and did not give the presentation, and did not participate in any other activities that took place in class afterwards.

So it was lunch time, and teacher A ordered student B to move to the lunch room, but student B did not follow this. In response, Teacher A approached Student B and said, “Hey, wake up,” and attempted to pull his arm to help him stand up. However, Student B was steadfast. In the end, Teacher A called Student B's mother and explained, "I can't use my strength because I'm afraid the child will get stubborn and get hurt." With the mother's consent, Teacher A left Student B in the classroom and moved to the cafeteria.

The original court ruled that teacher A's lifting of student B's arm constituted an act of abuse. The reason was that discipline through other educational means, such as conversation or non-physical sanctions, was not impossible. Meanwhile, the court fined Teacher A 1 million won and ordered him to complete a 40-hour child abuse treatment program.

However, the Supreme Court's judgment was different. The original judgment was overturned and the case was sent back to the original court. The Supreme Court interpreted Teacher A's actions as part of education. Since the act of trying to raise the arms was done to encourage students to participate in essential educational activities, it should be viewed as a valid instruction. At the same time, the Supreme Court added that it appears that the defendant chose an appropriate teaching method within the scope of his reasonable discretion as a teacher.

Through this ruling, the Supreme Court made clear its position that ‘even if a teacher causes a student to feel some physical pain, if the act is within the scope of education, it cannot be considered abuse.’ This can be interpreted to mean that when judging a teacher's educational behavior, not only the Child Welfare Act but also related laws such as the Basic Education Act must be broadly considered. This ruling, which recognizes teachers' discretion, is expected to have a significant impact on future child abuse-related lawsuits filed in educational settings.

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