A safety-related accident in school occurs inevitably in unforeseeable circumstances while children or students are engaged in educational activities. In addition, even in case a matter of responsibility is clear as majority of the persons directly in...
A safety-related accident in school occurs inevitably in unforeseeable circumstances while children or students are engaged in educational activities. In addition, even in case a matter of responsibility is clear as majority of the persons directly involved in a safety-related accident in school are minor students or a teacher, or school authorities, such an accident has a characteristic that calling to account is not easy as we usually access the accident from educational dimension. Korea has enacted and enforced special laws such as School Safety Accident Compensation Act and Act on the Countermeasures against School Violence for remedies of a safety-related accident in school. As there is a limit in remedies for damages on the special laws concerning a safety-related accident in school, there is no way but to bring a civil action if victim protests against a decision of deducted salary on the special laws. In such a case, the precedent of our country has made school take legal responsibility for a safety-related accident in school by constructing with the theory of tort. This study especially looked into the legal principles of contract of attendance and theories and precedents on a teacher’s duty of safety consideration, a school founder’s or managers’ duty of safety consideration occurring with respect to the contract of attendance, and considered whether or not it is possible to make school take contractual liability on the ground of violation of the duty of safety consideration. And contract of attendance is an untypical contract that lays down educational activities as main obligation and duty of protection or duty of safety consideration based on the principles of faith as collateral duties, which shall be considered a special and new contract that characteristics of public and private laws are mixed. Thus, a system that makes a founder and a manager of a school assume the responsibility for all the accidents in case a safety-related accident occurs in school is necessary. In this context, it shall be considered that a contract of attendance is concluded between school and student with respect to attendance in school by the theory of interpretation regardless of national/public or private schools, and school shall take the duty of safety consideration for students, and in case school violates such duty of safety consideration, it shall be interpreted that the school shall assume the liability of default on obligation. In modern society that public education is generalized, many aspects of a safety-related accident in school are similar to industrial accidents, so there is a perspective that considers a safety-related accident in school as a school disaster. Therefore, it is necessary for the state to treat a safety-related accident in school by assuming the whole responsibility for the accident. As a compensation system of School Safety and Insurance Federation on the Act on the Compensation for School Safety Accident can be considered an inceptive stage of such a compensation system, it is required to expand such a compensation system more.