A draft act regarding student discipline and rewards in elementary and junior-high schools would restrict teachers’ ability to mete out punishment to students, the Ministry of Education said.
Current regulations on elementary and junior-high school discipline and rewards are drafted and implemented by education bureaus and departments as autonomous ordinances at local cities and counties, resulting in discrepancies in regulation and implementation, the ministry said on Friday.
The Primary and Junior High School Act (國民教育法), amended in June last year, addressed this issue, stipulating that the principles behind regulations for, and handling of, disciplining and rewarding students, should be set by the central government.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
Local authorities are to reference these guidelines to ensure that autonomous ordinances to reward and discipline students are educational in nature and uphold students’ rights.
The draft bill, titled “Regulations for carrying out discipline and rewards in elementary and junior high schools,” says that teachers could use positive discipline, verbally reprimand students, make appropriate seating adjustments in the classroom or demand that students make a verbal or written apology.
However, teachers cannot force a student to give an apology against their will, as that does not uphold a student’s dignity nor does it positively affect the development of their character, the draft states.
Teachers could also make a daily record of students’ behavior and notify their legal representative or caregiver to help improve their conduct, it says, adding that teachers could also demand that students finish assignments that they had not completed.
Teachers would be empowered to assign, within reason, more homework and could demand students use their inter-period recesses to perform disciplinary activities, such as cleaning and tidying the environment if they have been caught littering, the draft states.
However, demands to complete assignments or to clean up the surroundings should still allow students suitable time for rest, it adds.
Teachers could restrict students from participating in school activities outside of class as punishment as well, the draft says. They could ask students to sit apart from others to reflect on their acts, and could also assign them to after-school detention after obtaining the approval of the student’s legal representative or caregiver.
Students could be made to stand to reflect on their actions, but cannot exceed the time for one class and cannot exceed two hours per day, it says, adding that students could be given “time-outs” at a corner of the classroom, but it must not exceed two courses per day.
Teachers could also, after obtaining permission from other teachers, temporarily transfer a troublesome student to another class for the day, the draft says.
A teacher’s actions must be in line with standing laws and educational in spirit, and should not harm students physically or mentally, it says.
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