A group of teachers hold a press conference in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Thursday afternoon, urging measures to better protect teachersโ rights. [NEWS1]
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Complaints by teachers regarding harassment by parents are pouring in after a young elementary school teacher took her own life last week.ย
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Many people believe bullying by the parents of a student accused of school violence was behind the suicide.
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According to the Gyeonggi Teachers' Union, 1,800 complaints were filed over a four-day period between Friday and Monday through a website created for such reports.
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In one case the union shared, a parent called a teacher at 10 p.m. to rant about a school violence incident involving their child and to blackmail the teacher.
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"You answer properly! Is this violence or not? I am recording this so you better answer well!" the parent shouted at the teacher over the phone.
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Another set of parents even appeared at school with gangsters when a committee to handle incidents of school violence held a hearing for their child, who choked another student.
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Some teachers had to deal with parents' personal matters.
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One drunk father called a teacher late at night to say, "I have divorced my wife, but I still love her so please tell her."
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Teachers' pregnancies were another matter that nosy parents cared much about.
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One teacher said a parent told her not to get pregnant for the year she taught their child.
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"I have no idea why my child always has a homeroom teacher like this," one parent told a pregnant teacher.
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On Monday, a man appeared at a press conference held by Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, to blame the death of his daughter, a teacher, on verbal assault from parents.
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The father said parents blackmailed his daughter, telling her they would "put her in jail" and "make sure she'd never work as a teacher again."ย
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Teachers who have undergone similar experiences are also connecting online.
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An elementary school teacher in Gyeonggi opened an online community for teachers wrongly accused of child abuse.
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"Before, teachers were hiding such matters for the sake of the school and students, but now is the time to publicly discuss how to defend ourselves," the teacher said.
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The Gyeonggi Teachers' Union said the Ministry of Education should come forward with proper preventive measures to tackle the problem.
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However, there are so many complaints from teachers that the government may have a tough time dealing with them all.
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"The quickest way for teachers to get help is to reach out to the support center of an education office or go through a committee for the protection of teachers' rights," an official from the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education said.
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The problem is thatย committees for the protection of teachers' rights only hold hearings when over a quarter of the members, the school's principal and the commissioner agree to do so.
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In many cases, school principals refrain from holding such hearings for fear of public sentiment and complaints from parents.
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Moreover, no laws mandate a committee hearing when teachers request one, though a bill to that effect is mired in the National Assembly.
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The Education Ministry is considering drawing up measures to penalize school principals who fail to convene committees properly, as well as parents who violate teachers' rights.
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A 23-year-old elementary school teacher in Seocho District, southern Seoul, took her own life in a classroom at Seoul Seo 2 Elementary School last week due to suspected harassment from the parents of a student involved in school violence.
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Teachers across the country will hold another mass rally this weekend to demand the protection of teachers' rights and improvements in the educational environment of public schools.ย
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The rally is scheduled to take place Saturday afternoon after a memorial for the 23-year-old elementary school teacher is held.
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BY CHO JUNG-WOO,CHOI MIN-JI [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]
