Corporal punishment is to be banned in all elementary , middle and high schools in Seoul from Monday . Schools have fixed a new set of regulations to ban all forms of corporal punishment , according to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on Sunday . “ Over 99 percent of all public and private schools have revised their regulations as of Friday , ” said an official at the education office . “ From Monday onward , all forms of physical punishment , regardless of their purpose and intensity , are to be strictly forbidden . ” Minor violations are to be dealt with directly by the schools but the education office may interfere in cases of continuous or intense violence and impose an administrative sanction , officials said . The schools ’ moves were based on the policy of the liberal Seoul educational head Kwak No - hyun , who firmly vowed to abolish physical punishment in schools . They also followed a recent scandal in which several elementary school teachers used excessive violence on their students under the pretext of disciplinary action . However , many schools lack a substitute means of maintaining discipline . The SMOE suggested in September a face - to - face counseling program as a guiding system for disobedient students but few schools have actually adopted it , mostly due to the lack of budget or manpower . The office , vowing to promote an anti - corporal punishment campaign , will thus send out detailed guiding manuals to schools on dealing with students . It will also keep close watch on 15 sample schools before coming up with additional measures , officials said . “ The corporal punishment ban is a motto which we plan to push ahead , ” said an SMOE official . “ The age - old customs will , of course , not disappear all at once , so we will gradually work on eliminating them phase by phase . ” Corporal punishment , together with the admissions officer system , has been the most controversial issue in educational circles this year , especially as the SMOE and the Educational Ministry took opposing stances . Also , most teachers were reluctant to adopt a full ban on punishment . According to a recent survey by the Korean Federation of Teachers ’ Association on Seoul teachers , 68 . 2 percent of the respondents thought the ban was inappropriate . The KFTA also filed a petition to the ministry to legislate a law which permits corporal punishment under limited circumstances , claiming that the present moral hazard among students may not be controlled otherwise . By Bae Hyun - jung ( tellme @ heraldm . com )