A group of lawyers filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court on Tuesday over the government's move to reintroduce state-authored history textbooks for secondary school students.

The Lawyers for a Democratic Society claim that the government's decision to publish national textbooks violates the Constitution, which stipulates autonomy in education.

A little more than a month ago, the government announced it would revise the current textbook publication system so that middle and high school students will learn Korean history through national textbooks starting in the 2017 school year.

Currently, history textbooks for secondary schools are published by eight private publishing companies and subject to government approval for use, while primary schools have a single set of state-authored history textbooks.

The group argues that the government's move to monopolize the interpretation of history infringes on parents' rights to make decisions about their children's education and teachers' rights in their classes. (Yonhap)