Disciplinary liability of students, disciplinary measures
The behaviour of students in breach of their obligations may entail various
legal consequences. In the case of students breaching their obligations
severely and delinquently, disciplinary proceedings should be launched.
If the action of a student does not attain the level necessitating the
launching of disciplinary proceedings, then it may lead to the application
of disciplinary measures. Disciplinary proceedings are regulated in detail
by law, the forms and principles of application of disciplining measures
must be included in the organisational and operating regulations of the
school or dormitory hostel.
We were contacted on several occasions protesting the conduct of disciplinary
proceedings.
| A parent protested against
the course of disciplinary proceedings brought against their child
and the manner of notification on the disciplinary proceedings.
The applicant reported that the official notification sent by the
school specified December 7th as the date for the hearing. However,
the disciplinary hearing was held on November 30th without their
knowledge and presence. Pursuant to the Act on Public Education,
the parent of a minor student must be invited to the disciplinary
hearing. In the absence of a proper notification of the parent,
no disciplinary hearing may be held. With a view to the above, we
approached the head of institution with an initiative to conduct
disciplinary proceedings in compliance with legislation in the future,
since the particular pupil was not a student of the school anymore
at the time. The principal accepted this initiative. (K-OJOG-50/2001)
A parent contacted our Office to protest against the course of a
disciplinary hearing conducted against their child. We established
that the head of the institution was present during the hearing
legally since the hearing was in no way closed. However, the principal
- who was not a member of the disciplinary panel acted unlawfully
when they disturbed the course of the hearing with their remarks,
and thus jeopardised the impartial decision-making of the panel.
Since in the course of the disciplinary proceedings a decision was
reached on terminating the proceedings, we did not identify any
initiative with a view to the lesser significance of the infringement
of rights. We, however, informed the principal on the rules of disciplinary
proceedings in order to prevent any infringement of the provisions
governing disciplinary hearings in the future. (K-OJOG-332/2001) |
When examining the applications related to disciplining measures, we
established the infringement of educational rights on several counts.
It is important that these measures may be applied to sanction breaches
of obligations related to the student legal relationship.
| A teacher inquired as
to whether a disciplinary warning may be applied as a sanction by
the school for the inappropriate behaviour of a student at a football
match. We informed the teacher that if the district football match
had not been a school event, then the application of any sanction
by the school would violate the law. (K-OJOG-569/2001) |
Disciplining measures must be enumerated and the principles of their
application must be set forth in the pedagogical operational regulations
of the educational institution. The mere fact of the inclusion of a measure
in the organisational and operating regulations does not render its application
legal. The organisational and operating regulations may not contain disciplinary
measures infringing educational rights as a consequence of the behaviour
of students in breach of their obligations. We have already mentioned
the illegality of sending a student out from the class as a disciplinary
measure which was included in pedagogical operational regulations. (Case
K-OJOG-227/2001 in the Chapter on Absences)
We were contacted many times with protests at the illegality of measures
by teachers or schools for disciplining purposes. We concluded that sending
a student home may not be applied as a disciplining measure.
| A parent protested that
their son was sent home from a class by one of his teachers because
of his misconduct. In the particular case, we established the infringement
of educational rights since the student was sent home from the school
when he was under the supervision of the school according to a statutory
provision. Therefore we approached the principal with an initiative
to take the necessary measures to prevent a similar incident happening
in the school in the future and to ensure, in compliance with the
statutory requirements, the supervision of students entrusted to
him. The principal accepted our initiative. (K-OJOG-137/2001) |
In several of our cases the refusal to hand over students' school certificates
was used as a disciplinary measure by the school. It was clearly established
in these cases that the institution acted illegally when refusing to deliver
the certificate to the student at the time of handing out the certificates.
With a view to the above, we approached the head of the institution with
an initiative for the school to refrain from refusing to hand out school
certificates for any reason. Our initiative was accepted in all cases.
(K-OJOG-296/2001, K-OJOG-299/2001, K-OJOG-337/2001.
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