Educators mark anniversary of teacher's death by demanding protection from abuse

On anniversary of the death of an elementary school teacher who took her own life last year after allegedly being harassed by students' parents, family members and colleagues demanded better protections for educators’ rights and harsh punishments.

A woman pays condolences at a memorial altar installed at Seo 2 Elementary School in Seocho District in southern Seoul on Thursday, marking the anniversary of the death of a young teacher who died by suicide after allegedly experiencing harassment from students’ parents. [NEWS1]

On Thursday's anniversary of the death of an elementary school teacher who took her own life last year after allegedly being harassed by students' parents, family members and colleagues gathered at a memorial in Seoul to demand better protections for educators’ rights and harsh punishments for offenders.

Over 300 teachers, education officials and families attended a joint memorial service for Seo 2 Elementary School teacher at 4 p.m. in central Seoul. The service was co-organized by six teachers’ groups, a committee representing bereaved family members and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

"The voices of teachers desperately calling for restoring educators' rights after the passing of the school teacher last summer remain heavy in our hearts," Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said during the event.

On July 18 of last year, a 24-year-old teacher of first graders was found dead at her workplace, Seo 2 Elementary School in Seocho District, southern Seoul. Police concluded the death was a suicide, and the Education Ministry found signs that the teacher struggled with parental harassment.

On Thursday morning, family members of teachers who committed suicide due to bullying from students and their parents and members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) marched 7.18 kilometers (4.46 miles) from Seo 2 Elementary School in southern Seoul to the National Assembly in western Seoul.

Jeon Hee-young, president of the KTU, criticized police for clearing charges on the parent suspected of harassing the young teacher. “There is a person who died in suffering, and police claimed that nobody inflicted such pain,” Jeon said at a midway stop in front of the Seocho Police Station.

On the same day, President Yoon Suk Yeol conveyed his “deepest condolences” to the Seo 2 Elementary teacher, her family and colleagues, promising his best effort to ensure the smooth implementation of policies protecting educators’ classroom rights.

In a Facebook post, Yoon said that “establishing teachers’ rights is the most fundamental groundwork for raising children.” He added that he felt a “heavy responsibility to restore teachers’ rights and normalize public education” after seeing the number of teachers and crowds marching on the streets every weekend last summer.

Yoon also promised to foster “an educational environment in which teachers, students and parents are all satisfied.”

Bereaved families of teachers who died by suicide and members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) hold a press conference and call for another investigation into the death of a teacher in front of the Seocho Police Station in southern Seoul on Thursday. [NEWS1]

Education Minister Lee said that “students’ rights to an education can be protected only when teachers’ rights to conduct educational activities are protected" during another memorial event held in Ulsan on Thursday morning. Seventeen superintendents of education representing city and provincial municipalities joined the event.

“The ministry will specify the conditions of psychological abuse and modify the legal liability of educators regarding safety accidents during educational activities," Lee said.

During the event, education officials adopted a joint statement on “protection for educational activities,” which includes provisions to reinforce regional education offices’ protection of teachers and provide equal learning opportunities to all students.

Legal and social measures to safeguard teachers' rights have followed the death of the young elementary teacher.

Although the Education Ministry amended policies and implemented measures to curb harassment toward teachers after the suicide, teachers say they “cannot feel nor sense positive changes in classrooms.”

The Education Ministry's statistics also show that harassment toward educators persists. Cases handled by the committee — dedicated to protecting teachers’ rights — have doubled over the past four years, jumping from 2,662 in 2019 to 5,050 in 2023.

Regional education offices convened 1,364 committee sessions between March and June to review and penalize aggression toward teachers.

Structurally, teachers are in a vulnerable position because of the risk of being accused of child abuse. The Education Ministry received 535 child abuse reports involving teachers between last September and June.

In one case in Gyeonggi in March, a fifth grader was unhappy with a decision during a dodgeball match. He called his teacher “parentless" and used an expletive to describe the decision.

Later, the student made a voodoo doll of the teacher and kept stabbing it. His behavior prompted the teacher to report the student to the committee. The committee handed him the most lenient punishment, campus volunteering.

“If the student were found to be innocent, the teacher might have faced a retaliatory accusation for child abuse,” an anonymous official familiar with the case told the JoongAng Ilbo. “Nowadays, teachers still perceive their rights and authority are at rock bottom.”

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho speaks during a memorial event marking the anniversary of the death of a school teacher from Seo 2 Elementary School held in Ulsan on Thursday. [NEWS1]

Education experts say that harassment of educators has become more subtle.

“It appears that parents and students have learned certain ways of bullying teachers after seeing multiple cases of ridiculing educators,” said Won Joo-hyun, chief of a labor union representing middle school teachers.

Won shared a case where multiple students falsely accused their teacher of psychological abuse, scheming that coherent statements from several pupils would frame the teacher as an abuser.

Educators also criticized the committee for being “sluggish” in handling affairs and “handing lenient punishment,” despite regional education offices directly managing the committees starting this year. Until last year, each school was responsible for managing the committees.

This year, 9.1 percent of students reported to have violated teachers’ rights received the most severe form of punishment — forced transfer or expulsion. Also, the committees handed the mildest punishment — campus volunteering — to 46.9 percent of student offenders nationwide, recording a 22.4 percent on-year increase.

Regarding punishments given to parents, written apologies — considered a lenient penalty — accounted for 56.4 percent with 62 cases. None of the parents were sued or faced criminal charges for their actions.

In June, a Seoul-based middle school suspended a student for 10 days after the student illegally filmed a teacher in a women’s toilet.

“Such an offense should have resulted in a forced transfer, not a temporary suspension,” said Jeon Su-min, a lawyer who used to handle school bullying cases at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

Another anonymous attorney representing an elementary school student said some “teachers are taking excessive disciplinary actions such as calling in a certain student multiple times a day.”

The attorney said that teachers also react sensitively to complaints submitted by students’ parents and accuse them of harming educators’ rights, noting that such a dynamic aggravates the power struggle between teachers and parents.

The education community claims that a policy excluding teachers from child abuse charges is necessary.

The community’s pursuit of the policy was frustrated last May because of an objection from the Education Ministry. The ministry said it is unfair to make certain jobs or occupations bulletproof from child abuse charges.

“Although education authorities implemented measures such as separating harassing students and teachers and imposing fines on parents ridiculing teachers […], those resolutions often turn out to be useless when teachers are accused of child abuse,” Won said.

“Parents have no means of expressing discontent other than raising complaints or filing reports,” Jeon said, adding that an intermediary settling mechanism "is needed to prevent schools from turning into the battlefield of all against all — students, parents and teachers.”

BY CHOI MIN-JI, SEO JI-WON, LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]