Stress from Various Complaints Leads to Teachers Taking Leave
Reports of Teacher Rights Violations to the Education Office Steadily Increase Over 3 Years
#1. A (29), a teacher at an elementary school in Mokpo, Jeollanam-do, says she cannot shake off her sense of skepticism and helplessness about her job these days.
She called a student who was causing a disturbance and wandering around during class to the hallway and disciplined him verbally, only to be threatened by the child's parent with "We will sue you for child abuse," which left her feeling intimidated.
She sighed, saying, "There is no proper way to discipline a misbehaving child," and "Teachers cannot teach."
#2. B (26), who teaches elementary students in Gwangju, was hurt by the harsh words of a parent and chose to take a leave of absence two years after her appointment.
After hearing that a student in her class was being cyberbullied, she called the parent of the perpetrator but was met with scolding instead.
"Do you really have to call during dinner time and ruin the family atmosphere over something like this?" "The child's father is very angry and will come to the principal's office tomorrow." The belief that teachers and parents form an educational community to raise children properly was shattered.
B said, "Reality was very different from my dreams," and confessed, "Now I am afraid to contact parents and don’t really understand the teacher’s role well, so I ended up taking a leave of absence."
A 'Me Too movement' against infringement of teachers' rights is spreading in Gwangju and Jeollanam-do as well.
The incident was triggered by the death of an elementary school teacher in Seocho-gu, Seoul, who took an extreme step at school on the 18th of last month.
In particular, there is expected to be a huge impact as an incident last April in Gwangju, where an elementary school teacher was accused of child abuse by a parent, was brought to public attention.
At that time, a teacher was sued by a parent and the case has even proceeded to civil court because the teacher overturned a classroom desk while trying to stop a fight between students and tore up a student's reflection letter that stated "I did nothing wrong."
Given this situation, reports of infringement on teachers' rights submitted to the education office have been rapidly increasing.
The number of reports of teachers' rights violations received by the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education steadily increased from 35 cases in 2020, to 67 in 2021, and 97 in 2022.
The problem is that measures to protect teachers are ineffective.
When teachers face infringement of their rights due to malicious complaints from parents during student guidance, principals and vice principals who should protect the teachers tend to avoid conflicts with parents out of concern that it might affect their promotion scores or the selection of the best school, according to frontline teachers.
Park Sam-won, a representative of the Gwangju Teachers' Union, said, "Even when the Teachers' Rights Protection Committee is held, parents prioritize their children and end up suing or threatening teachers, leaving teachers with no choice but to endure," and added, "The education authorities must promptly prepare measures to protect teachers."
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