Schoolteachers' political freedom

Political neutrality should be kept in education field

The Constitutional Court ruled last Thursday that banning elementary and secondary schoolteachers from creating or joining political organizations is unconstitutional. In a 6-3 vote, the court made unconstitutional Article 65-1 of the State Public Officials Act, which stipulates that “no public official may participate in the forming of, or join in, any political party or other political organization.” It is the provision that clearly specifies the boundaries of the fundamental rights of government employees and teachers concerning their political freedom.

The court said, “The State Public Officials Act specifies organizations that (they) are banned from joining political parties or other political organizations, but a criterion distinguishing a political and non-political organization cannot be derived in the absence of any limitations on the purposes or activities of such an organization.”

However, in adjudication on a constitutional complaint filed by nine schoolteachers against Article 22 of the Political Parties Act, saying it infringes on their right to form and join political parties, the nine-justice tribunal made a constitutional ruling, also in a 6-3 vote. The court judged the article infringes on the complainants' political rights and freedom of assembly. As seen by these decisions, the highest court stopped short of fully allowing fundamental political rights and freedom for state workers and schoolteachers. They can raise issues about the previously strict regulations on fundamental political rights and freedom, but should do so within the framework our society permits.

It is not right to deny comprehensively teachers' fundamental political rights, which are guaranteed to all citizens. Government employees and teachers should be allowed to enjoy minimal basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The court's ruling went one step forward in this direction.

Still, realistic confusion occurring in places of education is inevitable. It is far from desirable if the fundamental rights of schoolteachers clash with the principles to be kept in the field of education. Teachers' fundamental political rights are indisputable, but they ought not to be governed by “should thinking.”

The court's ruling should serve as an occasion to overhaul ambiguous regulations related to political organizations. Aside from guaranteeing the fundamental political rights of teachers and similar groups, the authorities concerned must come up with ways to maintain their political neutrality in educational fields.