Cho Hee-yeon Holds Meeting with Junior Elementary School Teachers... "Feeling a Broad and Deep Sense of Responsibility"

Apologies Conveyed to Low-Experience Teachers

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, met with low-experience elementary school teachers to express his apologies regarding the teacher death incident at Seoi Elementary School and promised to prepare measures to respond to infringements on teachers' rights.

On the morning of the 27th, Superintendent Cho held a meeting with about 10 elementary school teachers with less than three years of experience at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, stating, "As the superintendent, I feel a broad and deep sense of responsibility." This meeting was organized to listen to the field stories of low-experience teachers who face high work intensity and to prepare countermeasures.

He said, "I am saddened and deeply sorry to see a precious member of the education family leave us, and I pray for the deceased's happiness in the afterlife. I also apologize to the teachers who are hurting as if it were their own matter."

He continued, "As the superintendent, I will listen to the difficulties teachers are experiencing in their educational activities at schools from various perspectives. The reason I requested to meet with low-experience teachers first today is because those who were appointed as teachers during the COVID-19 crisis and managed classrooms must have faced exceptional hardships, so I wanted to listen to your difficulties first."

Superintendent Cho said, "Starting with today's meeting, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education plans to directly listen and communicate with teachers by years of experience, region, and grade level about their difficulties in the field. We will work with a resolute determination to create conditions where teachers can fully focus on educational activities."