Elementary, Middle, and High School Teachers Leave Schools Within 5 Years... Due to False Child Abuse Claims and Malicious Complaints

Last Year, 'Teachers with Less Than 5 Years of Service' Doubled
The Hot Issue Amid Collapsed Teacher Authority: 'Primary and Secondary Education Act'
"A Plan Needed for Coexistence of Teacher Authority and Student Rights"

The number of teachers who have quit their hard-won teaching positions has nearly doubled in one year. As teacher authority continues to waver and difficulties in student guidance are pointed out as causes, calls for measures to restore teacher authority are growing louder.

◆Number of teachers retiring within 5 years of appointment doubles= According to the office of Kwon Eun-hee, a member of the People Power Party, on the 25th, the number of national and public elementary, middle, and high school teachers with less than 5 years of service who retired in the past year nationwide was 589. This is nearly double the 303 from last year. By school level, there were 311 elementary school teachers, 176 middle school teachers, and 102 high school teachers. Regardless of years of service, the total number of national and public elementary, middle, and high school teachers who retired nationwide in the past year reached 12,003, marking a record high. This is a 43% increase compared to 8,367 in 2017, six years ago.

The increase in retiring teachers is analyzed to stem from the reality where teachers are defenselessly exposed to false child abuse reports and malicious complaints, making it difficult to focus on active educational activities. According to a survey by the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union last year, only 1.5% of teachers who were reported for child abuse were actually found guilty. This means that 98.5% of the reports were indiscriminate and excessive.

◆"Strong immunity for teacher student guidance under review"= Teachers complain that "indiscriminate reports shrink educational activities." To address this issue, a revision bill to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act granting teachers ‘child abuse immunity’ for legitimate student guidance was proposed in the National Assembly on the 11th. The bill’s main point is to add a clause stating that “legitimate student guidance by teachers shall not be considered prohibited acts under the Child Welfare Act, such as physical abuse, emotional abuse, or neglect, unless there is intentional or gross negligence.”

Assembly member Kwon Eun-hee said, “We are reviewing strong immunity regulations like those in the United States to protect teachers’ legitimate student guidance.”

According to the National Assembly’s legislative notice system, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act amendment bill, proposed by People Power Party member Lee Tae-gyu and others on the 11th and open for public comment since the 15th, has received over 20,000 'agree' opinions as of 4 p.m. on the 24th. This number is much higher than other bills open for comment during the same period, such as the Medical Act amendment bill (14,314 opinions), the Child Abuse Crime Punishment Act amendment bill (7,627 opinions), and the School Violence Prevention Act amendment bill (3,414 opinions).

However, some voices raise concerns about the potential misuse of this amendment by certain teachers. They argue that providing legal exceptions to teachers weakens the safety net protecting students from excessive actions such as corporal punishment by teachers.

Parent organizations such as the National Innovative Parents Network and the National Parents Association for True Education held a press conference at the National Assembly on the 23rd, stating, “The ‘legal omnipotence’ approach of trying to solve problems by making laws every time an issue arises cannot fundamentally resolve the problem,” and “Educational measures are needed to resolve conflicts for the sake of students by confirming and coordinating the positions of both teachers and students.” They further claimed that “the Elementary and Secondary Education Act amendment bill is a teacher immunity law that encourages child abuse.”

◆Teacher authority and student rights must be guaranteed together= Experts advise that a balanced system protecting both teachers’ rights to guide students and students’ human rights should be established. Professor Kim Hanna of the Department of Education at Chongshin University said, “It is true that emphasizing student rights excessively recently has caused severe mental and physical harm to teachers and made it difficult to guarantee educational activities,” adding, “Policies to protect teachers’ rights and measures to prevent coercive student guidance should be created together.” He continued, “Teacher authority and student rights are not opposing or conflicting issues but values that coexist.”