Pilot scheme to require parents to book teacher meetings

(Yonhap)

Parents in Seoul will have to make reservations through an app to meet or speak over the phone with teachers under a voluntary pilot program to be rolled out in November, Seoul Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon said Wednesday.

The reservation system is aimed at putting more safeguards in place for teachers at schools, after educators complained of being harassed by parents who have appeared unannounced at schools or called them after workhours, Cho said.

The education office aims to launch the pilot scheme at schools that sign up to participate in the project.

Under the plan, parents must make prior reservations for parent-teacher meetings or phone calls through the Seoul School Safety mobile application. They will be informed of the exact day and time slot for the meeting. Depending on the progress, education authorities plan to implement the scheme at all schools in Seoul starting next year.

Teachers’ school phones will also be replaced with ones that have voice recording functions to help them deal with parents’ verbal aggression. The education office declined to comment on whether the voice-recording devices will be able to be used during teacher-parent meetings.

To ease educators’ burden, chatbots -- computer programs that handle human conversation through text -- will be used to handle general parental complaints that do not require direct teacher responses.

“We must stop verbal abuse and insults directed toward teachers under the name of ‘parental complaints.’ The Seoul education office will take the initiative in protecting teachers’ educational activities,” Cho said in a press briefing.

During the same period, security cameras will be installed inside campus waiting rooms so that schools can monitor visitors and control outsider access, and schools will allow parents to speak to teachers there. The school will also allow parents and teachers to speak in an empty classroom when the waiting room is occupied, according to the education office. It added that security cameras would only be installed at schools willing to do so.

Teachers facing legal battles with either a parent or student could be allotted up to 5.5 million won ($4,200) in financial aid from the office, it added. Retired teachers would also be eligible for the scheme if the lawsuit occurred during their tenure.

Cho said his office remains committed to protecting teachers from mental, emotional and verbal maltreatment from parents, adding that the new scheme would allow for better boundaries between parents and teachers.

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