Sequential Implementation Starting with High-Risk Teachers
Counseling Program Support and Specialist Referral
"Plan to Invest 10 Billion Won in Budget"
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Welfare will provide psychological diagnosis and treatment support for kindergarten, elementary, middle, high school, and special education teachers. This response comes after recent incidents where teachers faced difficulties due to malicious complaints, child abuse reports, and consecutive deaths, prompting post-incident measures.
The joint task force from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Welfare held a briefing at the Government Seoul Office on the 15th and announced the 'Teacher Mental Health Recovery Support Plan.'
The task force stated that psychological diagnostic tests will be conducted for all teachers (kindergarten, elementary, middle, high school, and special education) who wish to participate. Psychological tests will be conducted this month for teachers in crisis classified as high-risk groups, as well as kindergarten, elementary, and special education teachers. From around November, tests will be conducted for homeroom and subject teachers of upper elementary grades and middle school teachers.
Teachers can choose to take an online screening test or visit one of the 26 Teacher Healing Support Centers or 261 Mental Health Welfare Centers for testing.
Once the psychological counseling test results are available, counseling programs will be provided to teachers who need psychological counseling through each education office’s Teacher Healing Support Center. Teachers in the high-risk mental health group will be supported through connections with Mental Health Welfare Centers. In-depth telephone counseling with private experts is also available for teachers who wish to receive it. Teachers requiring medical treatment will be connected to psychiatrists. Approximately 450 experts are linked with the Ministry of Education.
Additionally, for schools with many teachers needing counseling and that wish to participate, a Mind Care Bus will be deployed to provide psychological testing and counseling. Experts from the Korea Life Respect Hope Foundation will immediately intervene in schools where suicide incidents have occurred to support daily recovery.
The task force plans to conduct regular testing and treatment for teachers every two years. They also plan to develop customized psychological testing tools for teachers starting next year.
The Ministry of Education and local education offices will discuss with each metropolitan and provincial education office the possibility of treating psychological treatment and specialized counseling periods as sick leave. The costs for professional treatment will be supported by the Ministry of Education and local education offices. Teachers receiving counseling and treatment can apply for post-payment reimbursement through the Teacher Healing Support Centers. Regarding the budget, the Ministry of Education explained, "We will support a budget sufficient for treatment during the second semester of this year," adding, "The total budget is expected to be around 10 billion KRW." There is no limit on the treatment cost per individual.
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