Teachers knock on party doors: 13 education groups push for right to join political parties

Thirteen teacher organizations launched a joint campaign Wednesday, collecting membership applications addressed to political parties to demand that teachers be allowed to join them. The groups called on the National Assembly to amend relevant laws during the current regular session to guarantee teachers the right to participate in party activities and policy decisions.

The Coalition to Restore Teachers' Basic Political Rights held a press conference Wednesday afternoon near the National Assembly station in Yeouido, Seoul. Participating groups included the Korean Federation of Teachers' Unions, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union, the Practical Education Teachers' Association and the Good Teachers Movement, among other teacher and education civic organizations.

According to the coalition, 5,206 teachers took part in the action by collectively submitting party membership applications. After the press conference, participants planned to march to the headquarters of the People Power Party and the Democratic Party of Korea to deliver the applications.

The groups called on authorities to guarantee teachers the right to choose and join a political party. The coalition said that if the applications were rejected on the grounds of current law, the National Assembly and the parties — which hold the power to change that law — must respond with a concrete legislative timetable.

The central issue is how to distinguish between political neutrality in education and individual teachers' political participation. The coalition said restricting teachers from imposing specific political views on students is a separate matter from banning teachers from joining a party altogether. Its position is that teachers should maintain political neutrality in the classroom while retaining the right to participate in politics as citizens outside school.

The groups also said that securing basic political rights is a channel for changing education policy. Teachers implement policy changes at school and bear their consequences, the coalition argued, yet their right to participate in parties and bring firsthand experience to policy and legislation remains curtailed.

Discussions on amending the relevant laws have centered on allowing teachers to make political donations and take a leave of absence when running for public office. The coalition said such measures fall short of enabling teachers to participate in party decision-making and policy development.

Song Su-yeon, chairwoman of the Korean Federation of Teachers' Unions, said teachers' basic political rights are "neither a subject of political bargaining nor a matter of partisan calculation." She added that while teachers who use their position to impose political beliefs on students should be held accountable, "the rights they enjoy as citizens after work hours must not be restricted."

Park Young-hwan, chairman of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union, also called on the government and the ruling party to fulfill their pledge to guarantee basic political rights. "I will work to remove the contradiction of teachers who cannot enjoy the rights of citizens being asked to raise democratic citizens," Park said. "It is now time for the National Assembly to answer the desperate call of teachers."

The coalition said the 5,206 membership applications represent "a demand that teachers be recognized as equal citizens," and pledged to continue its joint campaign "until basic political rights are guaranteed by law."