Late teacher suffered from parents' phone calls after 'pencil incident': ministry

Vice Education Minister Jang Sang-yoon speaks during a press briefing in Seoul, Friday. (Yonhap)

An elementary school teacher who died in an apparent suicide last month was found to had difficulties dealing with a student who showed problematic behavior since the beginning of the first semester, in addition to an excessive workload, according to the results of a government inquiry released on Friday.

A student had scratched a classmate's forehead with a pencil in the late teacher's classroom on July 12, said the Education Ministry, which had announced a joint inquiry into the case with the Seoul Metropolitan Education Office.

Several phone calls were made between parents and the late teacher the day the incident occurred. The late teacher had told a fellow teacher that she was anxious about parents calling her despite her not giving them her number, said the ministry. The ministry suggested that the police may need to investigate how the parents were able to get her number, and whether parents verbally abused the late teacher during these calls. The 23-year-old teacher, who was in her second year of teaching, took her own life on July 18. Police have been separately investigating the case.

Many teachers at the school said they felt that their workload was excessive, and experienced difficulties in teaching due to parental interference and verbal abuse, according to the ministry's inquiry.

Of the total of 65 teachers at the school, 63 percent, or 41 teachers, answered questions about their workload, complaints from parents and maladjusted students. Most of them answered that they had difficulty responding to parents due to their excessive interference regarding education activities and harsh verbal treatment from parents to teachers. They also said that they felt that their workload was excessive, as additional work was given on top of their homeroom teacher duties.

Some 70 percent of the respondents said they experienced complaints and protests from parents more than once a month, and six respondents said they experienced them more than seven times a month. In addition, 49 percent of the respondents said they had experienced infringement of their rights as teachers. Infringement of teachers' rights refers to acts that do not follow teachers' legitimate guidance or interfere with classes.

Teachers said that increasing faculty and staff numbers are needed to solve the problem of overcrowded classrooms and to alleviate excessive work. They added that they require protection from parents' malicious complaints, as they limit teachers' educational activities.

“The police will thoroughly investigate the parts not revealed in this investigation. The Ministry of Education feels responsible for the teacher's death, and will devise effective alternatives to prevent such a sad incident from reocurring,” Vice Education Minister Jang Sang-yoon said.

By Lee Jaeeun(jenn@heraldcorp.com)