Bribery reporting plan irks teachers

A move by the Seoul education office to financially reward those who report on teachers who receive money or gifts from parents is being criticized for the negative impact it may have on teachers` image.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced last Sunday that it would put on public notice the planned ordinance to offer money worth up to 30 million won ($23,660) to those who report on corrupt acts committed by teachers or public servants working at the office.

Public servants or ordinary citizens will be able to file a report to the education office by fax, phone or mail, or on its website (www.sen.go.kr). The education office plans to give the rewards after deliberation by a committee consisting of five to seven people, officials said.

The move comes after the education office received the lowest scores among Korea`s 16 education offices in integrity-level surveys for three consecutive years in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The surveys were conducted by the Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption (currently the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission).



Many have expressed concern about possible negative effects of such a reporting system. The education office claims that the system will work effectively to stamp out any corruption by teachers and education officials.

"With the system, teachers may become subjects to be monitored by the education authorities and look like potential criminals, which will create very negative images of teachers among students, damage the authority of teachers and obviously dampen the morale of hard-working teachers," said Kang Dong-heun, a high-school English teacher in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.

Kim Dong-seok, spokesman of the Korean Federation of Teachers` Associations, said that the system has the potential of yielding many innocent victims as there could be people who would seek to receive the rewards and file malicious and false reports.

"The committee in charge of deliberating on the reports does not have any investigation rights like prosecutors, so it is in actuality difficult to vouch for the authenticity of the reports," Kim said.

"I agree that the government and teachers ourselves should try our best to eradicate any corrupt practices, but the reporting system is like police putting potential criminals on a wanted list and giving rewards when they are caught. This will damage the mutual trust between teachers and students, which is a very critical quality in educating students."

Some have also raised questions over the efficacy of the reporting system.

"The act of giving money to teachers is done very clandestinely and it is usually done in cash, which can hardly be tracked down," said a high-school teacher in Seoul, who refused to be identified.

The practice of parents giving money or small gifts to teachers as a token of gratitude has long persisted in Korea and burdened many parents. The practice has significantly declined recently, many observers say.

According to a survey conducted in March by the state civil-rights watchdog, 18.6 percent of the 1,660 parents questioned said they had experience of giving money or gifts to their children`s teachers.

A total of 46.8 percent said that the money or gifts offered to teachers were "bribes" while another 46.8 percent said that they were not, but that the practice of giving such money should be abolished.

Of the 16 education offices across the country, the Seoul education office is the second to try to enact such an ordinance. The Incheon education office began implementing the reporting system in February, but no one has filed a report yet.

The education offices in Daejeon, Jeju and Busan also have a similar ordinance in place. But their ordinances are seen as ineffective, as only public servants working within the education offices are allowed to file a report.

In 2006, Rep. Chin Soo-hee of the Grand National Party tried to enact a law that punishes both parents and teachers for giving and receiving money, but failed to do so after strong resistance from teachers, who argued the law appeared to view teachers as "potential criminals."

(sshluck@heraldm.com)



By Song Sang-ho