On August 3^rd, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family reported that the sexual assault case of Inha University on July 15^th heightened the necessity of preventive education on sexual assault. The ministry presented additional measures, such as a face-to-face two-way education by qualified instructors, and disclosing universities underperforming by more than 50% in preventive education participation rate. The existing problems of preventive educations in universities, that it is carried out mostly online by watching videos, and that its participation rate is remarkably low compared to that of elementary, middle, and high schools, were the grounds for those policies. Chung-Ang University also implements education on sexual and domestic violence prevention and disability awareness in the form of watching videos, but the completion rate is relatively high than other universities. According to Higher Education in Korea[1], the participation rate of sexual and domestic violence preventive education of CAU in 2021 was respectively 87.2% and 86.6%, far exceeding the average of 46.5% of domestic universities. But do those figures truly guarantee the student’s deep engagement in preventive education, and the raise of consciousness on gender equality and human rights? CAH asked students their opinions on the online preventive education program to verify the actual participation and its effectiveness. Let’s take a look into the implementation and problems of the preventive education, and search for ways to make them actually work.

How Is the Online Preventive Education Program Implemented in CAU?

Article 31 (Preventive Measures such as Education for Prevention of Sexual Harassment) of the Framework Act On Gender Equality, and article 25 (Raising Social Awareness) of the Act On Welfare Of Persons With Disabilities etc. make the preventive education courses mandatory. Carried out by the CAU Center of Human Rights, all members of CAU should mandatorily complete the preventive education every year. Among them, undergraduate and graduate students shall annually complete at least one hour each of sexual violence and domestic violence prevention education for a total of two hours, and at least one hour of education of improving awareness of disabled people. First, students should watch four to seven videos for each subject, which are about 10 minutes each. The evaluation test for each subject, which are questions based on the videos, can be taken only after watching each and every video of the corresponding subject. The preventive education program is completed only when all the test results meet the passing criteria (more than 5 correct answers out of 7 questions), and the given certificate enables access to grade inquiries.

What Are the Problems of the Online Preventive Education Program?

The Coercion by Imposing Penalty

According to the survey conducted by CAH of 81 CAU students, 65% responded that the online preventive education is ineffective. Currently CAU sets constraints on grade check in order to make sure students complete the compulsory education. And as a penalty, students who do not take the preventive education program cannot check their grades during the grade correction period. However, the students point out that the school’s policy to relate such a sensitive issue with the participation in preventive education is inappropriate. 70% of the respondents were discontented with the coercion, and 78% of those who had discontent replied that the coercion even causes repulsion about the education itself.

The Passive and Perfunctory Contents

According to the survey, 18% watch about half, and 54% hardly watch any of the online videos. The banal and perfunctory content (65.1%), the lack of practical content (54%), and unnecessariness in listening to the class to pass the evaluation test (47.6%) turned out to be the discouraging factors in their participation. Other reasons were the biased content that evokes rejection, and coercion imposed by the grade check as mentioned above. One student (anonymous) said, "In particular, in education for improving awareness of disabled people which does not have an evaluation test, I rarely watch the videos, doing something else and just leave the screen playing. I even considered muting the sound or hiding the lecture windows." Meanwhile, a post titled <Gender Education Questions and Answers (2022)> posted on CAU Everytime on March 25^th, was shared among users with 131 likes (posted on the BEST board for over 100 likes) and 193 scraps, as of August 26^th. As such, the preventive education is mere videos of similar content and form every year, and it does not even provide useful and abundant information. Accordingly, the program is recognized as a bothersome chore needed for checking grades among students, and sincere participation is not obtained.

Possible Resolutions for the Online Preventive Education Program

Reducing Resistance to Increase Participation

As a legal obligation, preventive education should be implemented to all students, but its methods and sanctions must be adjusted. First of all, the link between the grade check and preventive education must be removed. The existing sanction hinders the true necessity of the prevention education itself by making it mere hoops we have to jump through, and only causes dissatisfaction among students. Other universities are encouraging preventive education by including it in events that most students participate in, such as freshmen orientations. It is necessary for the university to consider such methods that require conversion but still have less punitive nature for not completing it. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family checks educational performance by the types of preventive education, notifies underperforming universities to come up with measures if they score less than 70 points, and reflects it in institutional evaluations. Preventive education can be conducted in various ways, by lectures of invited speakers, audiovisual education, and cyber education. But additional points in the evaluation are given to courses inviting professional instructors. That could be a considerable alternative in order to get a high score in the institutional evaluation.

Raising Interest to Increase Effectiveness

CAU should consider the uniqueness of the education, that the listeners are students of CAU. The preventive education should include information that is useful in university life, such as contact information or the services of the Center for Human Rights, services where students can ask for help and counsel in the event of sexual assault, and location of emergency buttons etc. Especially, education for improving awareness of disabled people should be substantially linked to students with disabilities who are enrolled in the school. Currently, the Student Support Center for Student with Disabilities is having difficulty in recruiting student helpers due to fewer applications. Accordingly, it is necessary to increase the students’ interest in the center and in ways to actually study and live together with disabled students. Student’s access and utilization of the Center for Human Rights of each campus, which oversee counsel, support, and receipt of report on sexual assault should also be strengthened. In conclusion, the school should move forward from its one-off education, and actively promote and provide periodic guidance on existing facilities and systems in the school that students can utilize.

According to the “Status of Sexual Harassment and Violence in Universities Nationwide” submitted by the Ministry of Education in 2021, the number of cases of sexual assault and sexual violence in universities increased 90% in three years, from 182 cases in 2016 to 346 cases in 2019. Also, the number of disabled students in CAU amounts to about 20 each year. As such, the importance of preventive education in CAU has increased, and students are willing to improve the education system for sexual assault and disability awareness. CAU should take the current problems of the online preventive education program seriously, and come up with appropriate measures to improve it.