Teacher's suicide sparks demands for classroom respect [REWIND 2023]

The death of an elementary school teacher in Seoul who took her own life in July after alleged harassment by parents of students sparked outrage among teachers in the country, tens of…

Teachers shed tears in mourning the death of the school teacher of Seo2 Elementary School in Seocho District, southern Seoul, who took her own life, on the school campus on July 23, five days after her death. She was allegedly harassed by the parents of her students over a school violence case. [NEWS1]

The death of an elementary school teacher in Seoul who took her own life in July after alleged harassment by parents of students sparked outrage among teachers in the country, tens of thousands of whom took to the streets for weeks to rally for the rights of teachers.

The 23-year-old teacher was in her second year of teaching at Seo2 Elementary School in Seocho District, southern Seoul, when she was found dead at the school on July 18. Police concluded the death was a suicide, but forensic tests on her electronic devices failed to find evidence that the parents of her students harassed her.

The Education Ministry, which also investigated the case, found signs that the teacher was struggling, especially after two students in her class got in a fight and one was injured with a pencil. The fight took place a week before her death. The parent of the injured student had allegedly called the teacher repeatedly on her personal mobile phone, which she said “gave her the chills” because she could not recall sharing her personal contact information with the parent before, according to the Seoul Education Office’s records obtained by the People Power Party.

The case spotlighted other incidents of harassment toward teachers by students and parents, such as the case of two teachers at an elementary school in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi. The two teachers took their own lives within just six months of each other in 2021. Initially, their deaths were reported as accidents, but subsequent reports revealed that both teachers took their own lives due to stress caused by harassment from parents.

Since the Seo2 Elementary School teacher's death in July, five other teachers took their own lives.

After teachers’ associations called for measures to protect teachers from harassment from parents, especially when handling school violence cases, the Education Ministry announced earlier this month that dedicated investigators will handle school violence cases starting in March next year. It said 62,052 school violence cases were reported last year.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]