Angry teachers brave the heat to demand classroom protections

Tens of thousands of teachers held a mass rally in central Seoul on Saturday to demand the protection of their classroom authority and a safer educational environment.

Teachers demand improvements in working conditions and protection of their classroom rights during a mass rally held in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Saturday. [NEWS1]

Tens of thousands of teachers held a mass rally in central Seoul on Saturday to demand the protection of their classroom authority and a safer educational environment.

This marked the second rally held in downtown Seoul after a 23-year-old first-grade teacher at an elementary school in southern Seoul took her own life due to suspected harassment by the parents of a student involved in school violence.

Rally organizers said 30,000 teachers from across the country gathered near Government Complex Seoul in Jongno District, central Seoul, though police estimates put the figure at 21,000.

“Please pay attention to the teachers who are desperately asking to protect their right to survival,” an elementary school teacher from Gwangju was quoted as saying by local wire service Yonhap.

The teacher said she has been an educator for 21 years and attempted to commit suicide after being accused of child abuse.

During the rally, teachers demanded legal revisions, especially to the Act on the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes, claiming that parents take advantage of the law to blackmail teachers and protect their children from legitimate punishment.

They also paid tribute to the deceased teacher by wearing black outfits and masks in the sweltering heat. Temperatures reached as high as 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday with heat wave warnings issued across the city.

The suicide of the teacher in a classroom at Seoul Seo 2 Elementary School on July 18 spotlighted difficulties faced by teachers, particularly their inability to discipline misbehaving students due to fear of complaints from parents.

A 31-year-old elementary school teacher who came from Muan County, South Jeolla, said teachers took the suicide personally.

“There are many teachers receiving psychiatric help,” the teacher was quoted as saying.

“I, too, was accused of abuse in many malicious reports and cried because of students and parents.”

According to Education Ministry data shared by People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Chung Kyung-hee’s office, a total of 100 teachers at public schools in the country took their own lives over the past six years from Jan.1, 2018, to June 30, 2023.

Elementary school teachers accounted for most of the suicides with 57 teachers, followed by 28 high school teachers and 15 middle school teachers.

Education authorities said 70 of the suicides were due to "unidentified reasons," while 16 cases were due to depression or panic disorder.

During Saturday’s rally, 102 professors at Seoul National University of Education released a statement promising to share measures to restore teachers’ rights with other educational universities and establish an institution to propose practical measures.

The government and the PPP last week announced they will push legal revisions to restore teachers' classroom authority, followed by President Yoon Suk Yeol's order to draw up comprehensive guidelines to better protect teachers’ rights.

The Education Ministry will come up with comprehensive guidelines to protect teachers' rights by next month and quickly move to amend relevant laws.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]