Family releases deceased teacher’s diary amid police probe

Police summons parent accused of bullying teacher with excessive complaints

An elementary student on Tuesday pays his respects at a memorial set up for the 23-year-old elementary school teacher in Seoul’s Seocho-gu who took her own life last week. (Yonhap)

The bereaved family of a 23-year-old junior elementary school teacher who took her own life last week released part of her diary indicating that she had struggled with too much work and an unruly student on Tuesday, amid the ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.

“After going to work on Monday, I was bombarded with an immense workload and chaos caused by a student. I just wanted to let go of everything (at that point),” a diary entry presumed to have been written on July 3 reads.

Another entry read, “I was out of breath. My hands were shaking, and I almost burst into tears while eating.”

Amid rumors that the teacher may have been bullied by several parents’ excessive complaints and reports filed at her school regarding her teaching and handling of school affairs, police said Tuesday that they had summoned a parent who had allegedly complained in an attempt to determine the exact cause of her death.

According to reports, the late first grade teacher had been verbally harassed by the parent of a student who had suffered from school violence in the first semester. The parent had allegedly complained about the teacher’s lack of qualifications for failing to prevent the bullying from occurring.

The school, however, denied speculations that the teacher had mishandled school violence or administrative issues related to it.

“No case of school violence was reported in her class this year, and the teacher did not visit the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education regarding school violence,” the school said via a statement on Thursday.

Meanwhile, police have also questioned the late teacher’s colleagues over the weekend regarding the suicide case.

The police said they are currently keeping all possibilities open, adding that they should be able to make formal allegations after getting all the facts.

In light of the recent tragedy, three unions representing teachers -- the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations, the Seoul Metropolitan Government Federation of Teachers’ Organizations and the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union -- urged the government to promptly devise measures protecting teachers from the indiscriminate reporting of child abuse and malicious complaints in a joint press conference held Monday.

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday instructed the government to develop comprehensive guidelines to protect teachers’ rights and strengthen their autonomy in classrooms. On Yoon’s orders, Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said his ministry would establish such measures by August.

By Park Jun-hee(junheee@heraldcorp.com)