On the 22nd, a teacher in Jeju was found dead at school
Suffered from complaint calls from a student's family day and night
Teachers say, "Nothing has changed since the Seoi Elementary School incident"
"I was surprised at myself for feeling like I have become used to things like this."
Lee, an elementary school teacher in her eighth year, said that the first emotion she felt upon hearing the news that a middle school teacher in Jeju had been found dead at school was a sense of "familiarity." This is because, since the 2023 Seoi Elementary School incident, there have been a series of cases where teachers, including an elementary school teacher in Daejeon, who were suffering from complaints, have died. Lee said, "All we want is for our basic rights and human dignity to be respected as people."
According to the education community on the 27th, it was confirmed that teacher A, who was found dead inside a middle school in Jeju on the 22nd, had been suffering from complaints made by the family of a student she taught. The bereaved family reported that the student's family made complaint calls to A's personal mobile phone at all hours, both on weekdays and weekends, day and night. A had been a "veteran" teacher with more than 20 years of experience in the profession.
After the Seoi Elementary School incident, the education authorities directed that complaints should be handled by the institution, not by individual teachers, and that a "complaint response team" should be formed under the responsibility of the school principal. However, teachers say this has not been felt in practice. Lee said, "I don't know where the complaint response team is actually functioning," and added, "There are still parents who come to the classroom unannounced, throw their bags on the desk, or, when contacted about their child bullying another, shout 'What did my child do wrong?'" Song, a middle school teacher in her fourth year, said, "The complaint response team only exists in form, and in practice, the response depends on the competence of the administrator. If teachers feel that administrators do not trust them, they may simply endure the situation."
According to a survey conducted by the teachers' union from May 8 to 16 among 4,068 teachers, 46.76% (1,902 teachers) responded that they had experienced disruptions to their educational activities due to malicious complaints within the past year. The most common channel for such complaints was "the teacher's personal mobile phone or online communication apps," cited by 84% of respondents. Teacher A, who died, also suffered from complaints directed at her personal mobile phone. Lim, an elementary school teacher in her sixth year, said, "Although using communication apps means you don't have to disclose your personal number, most teachers still can't escape from complaints because, even after work, if a parent asks to be contacted, you worry that something serious might have happened."
Teachers' organizations are demanding effective measures to address malicious complaints, such as systematizing the complaint response system. The Secondary Teachers' Union requested, "Establish systematic measures to prohibit the exposure of teachers' personal contact information and unify official communication channels with parents." The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union is conducting a petition campaign demanding a thorough investigation, countermeasures, and the recognition of teacher A's death as a work-related incident. As of 10 p.m. on the 26th, 41,311 people had signed the petition.
The Ministry of Education plans to inspect the complaint response systems of 17 provincial and metropolitan education offices and schools. In addition, the ministry plans to launch a "Parent Online Communication System" (provisional name) in the second half of this year. This system, linked to the existing "NEIS Parent Service," will support functions such as school visit reservations, telephone consultation bookings, and major announcements. A Ministry of Education official said, "Based on feedback from the field that complaints made through teachers' personal contact information or social media can seriously disrupt educational activities, we will continue to improve the system going forward."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
