From left: Seoul Superintendent candidates Cho Jun-hyuk, Han Man-jung and Jung Geun-sik pose for a photo on Friday ahead of a televised debate held at the Islan Dream Center in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. (Yonhap) Candidates for Seoul education superintendent clashed over the city’s student rights ordinance in Friday's televised debate, ahead of the June 3 local elections.Conservative candidate Cho Chun-hyuk pledged to scrap what he said was "one-sided" ordinance, while liberal candidates, including incumbent Seoul education superintendent Jung Geun-sik, defended the Seoul Metropolitan Office's decision to protect it.Cho said it places too much emphasis on students’ rights without sufficiently addressing their duties. “Seoul’s Student Human Rights Ordinance only unilaterally emphasizes students’ rights,” Cho said, adding that similar rules in the US also outline students’ responsibilities.“If students only assert their rights, there will be conflict,” he said. “I believe it is more educational for rights to be accompanied by the duties and responsibilities that naturally follow.”Conservative members of the Seoul Metropolitan Council moved to repeal the ordinance twice, in 2024 and 2025. Both attempts were blocked by liberal education chiefs, most recently by Jung, who is seeking a second term and appeared in Friday’s debate.“There was a major ordeal, and so much cost was incurred after the city council passed a motion to repeal the ordinance in 2024,” Jung said, about the long-standing political fault line in education policy that resurfaced in this year's election.Other liberal candidates also pushed back against Cho’s pledge.“As a former professor, I think candidate Cho should judge this based on reason,” liberal candidate Han Man-jung said. “Do you think malicious complaints against teachers will disappear just because you scrap the ordinance?”Han argued that violations of teachers’ rights have actually decreased in regions with student rights ordinances, such as Seoul and North Jeolla Province.Cho rejected the claim, saying many teachers in the field believe the ordinance has made student guidance more difficult.“Rights are learned even if they are not taught. Duties, however, are not,” Cho said.He cited cases in which students and parents allegedly abused the ordinance to file false child abuse complaints against teachers who sought to discipline students.The televised debate was hosted by the Seoul Election Broadcasting Debates Commission.Ordinance becomes the epicenter of ideological clashFirst introduced in 2012, the Seoul Student Human Rights Ordinance guarantees students’ dignity, freedoms and basic rights.Courts have previously recognized the ordinance’s legitimacy. In 2018 and 2019, the Seoul Administrative Court and the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of retaining the ordinance, acknowledging its role in limiting discriminatory hate speech, fostering democratic values and raising awareness of human rights.But the ordinance has remained at the center of an ideological clash, with conservatives arguing that it excessively protects students, weakens teachers’ authority and promotes protections for sexual minorities in schools.During the debate, the candidates also discussed measures to reduce educational disparities, protect teachers, respond to the rise of artificial intelligence, allocate the metropolitan education budget and curb digital violence in classrooms.Other education issues, including the decline in school field trips, were also briefly addressed.Cho and Han also took aim at Jung, questioning the legitimacy of his claim to be the sole unified liberal candidate.Both Cho and Han had previously raised objections to their respective primary processes, criticizing their methodology and fairness. Han has gone further, alleging election fraud.