The National Human Rights Commission says that requiring higher educational background from only foreigners when hiring private academy teachers is discriminatory.

The watchdog said Saturday that it has advised the education minister to revise the regulation that mandates a four-year university diploma from non-Koreans and a two-year college diploma from Korean applicants in qualification requirements for cram school instructors.

The Education Ministry argues a more stringent rule is inevitably applied to expats as Korean language communication skills also need to be considered.

But the rights commission pointed out that it can't be said that university graduates would be better in communicating in Korean than those who studied at junior colleges.

The agency said the current rule is discriminatory without academies trying to devise measures to evaluate the quality of teaching or Korean communication skills of foreign instructors.