Chang Kai-hsiang filed a constitutional interpretation and supplemental interpretation petition with the Constitutional Court regarding the determination of seniority pay for substitute teachers with official teaching certifications. In his claim, Chang stated the belief that the Taiwan Taipei High Administrative Court’s judgment 2019 Jian-Shang-Zi No. 48, Article 35 Paragraph 2 of the July 19, 2000 amended Teachers’ Act, and the Ministry of Education’s official communication Tai-(87)-Ren-(1)-Zi No. 87129048 (issued on November 30, 1998) are inconsistent with Articles 15 and 23 of the Constitution and Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 707. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) appointed commissioner Yeh Ta-hua to testify in court as an expert witness. Yeh based his testimony on international human rights covenants and domestic laws as well as an investigative report previously published by the Control Yuan on the appointment of substitute teachers at elementary and junior high schools.
According to the NHRC, the percentage of substitute teachers has been on the rise in recent years due to factors such as the declining birth rate and the competent authorities’ efforts to control faculty quotas and recruit supernumerary employees. Under the current personnel structure of the national education system, substitute teachers have become an integral part of all educational institutions, with many of them holding administrative positions or serving as homeroom teachers, which deviates from the original purpose of the system. However, the competent education authority has failed to make the appropriate adjustments to the recognition of substitute teachers’ employment status, working conditions, and remuneration, an oversight that is not conducive to the stability and control of educational quality, and gives rise to concerns about educational inequality. Therefore, the current system of laws is hardly in compliance with international human rights covenants when it comes to equality in employment and the best interests of children.
In his testimony, Ye pointed out that after the Control Yuan issued its investigative report and corrective measures in 2022, the Ministry of Education tightened its control over the faculty quota of each school. In addition to uniformly requiring local governments to provide full employment benefits for substitute teachers, the relevant laws and regulations have also been revised to make the term of employment and benefits of substitute teachers more consistent throughout the country. The case on hand regarding the determination of seniority for certified substitute teachers should fall under Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 707. Teacher remuneration is a matter of national public welfare and thus falls within the scope of Article 108 (education system) of the Constitution.
The NHRC reiterates that substitute teachers’ remuneration directly impacts the security of their livelihoods. Affording substitute teachers the peace of mind to fully commit to education and the improvement of teaching quality is an important matter involving the public interest, and Article 3, Paragraph 1 (the best interest of children) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) should apply here. Furthermore, the Constitution expressly stipulates that education funding should be approved and promoted as a priority, and the financial robustness of local governments is not grounds for differential treatment. When a substitute teacher’s responsibilities are essentially equivalent or very similar to those of a certified teacher despite being given significantly lower remuneration, it can hardly be said that the international human rights standards set forth in Article 23 (equal pay for equal work) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 7 (just and favorable conditions of work) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) are being upheld. The NHRC urges the government to increase education budgets to attract diverse teaching talent and help improve the financial robustness of local governments so as to ensure equal pay and minimize the urban-rural gap in educational resources.