Students with history of violence will be barred from becoming teachers

High school students who have a history of school violence in high school will be barred from becoming elementary school teachers, as the government takes stronger action against school bullying.

According to the college entrance plans for 2026 released by the government Monday, all 10 national universities of education have disqualified high school students with a history of violence from applying.

The ban is a follow-up to the comprehensive measure for eradicating school violence announced by the Education Ministry last year. This measure included the provision that a record of school violence should be considered in all college entrance exams starting from 2026.

While most universities have chosen to partially consider a history of school violence by deducting marks in their assessments of prospective students, the universities of education have opted for stronger measures.

Park Nam-ki, a professor at Gwangju National University of Education, stated that universities made these decisions because they believe students with a history of violence have limitations in terms of their suitability to serve as teachers from a personality perspective.