Teachers demand protections against unfair child abuse claims
Over 30,000 teachers and supporters rallied in downtown Seoul on Saturday, calling for the revision of South Korea's child abuse law, which they argue allows parents unjustly to accuse teachers of misconduct without a thorough investigation.
The protesters say the current law, referred to as the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes, permits parents to accuse teachers of child abuse and report them to law enforcement without thoroughly investigating the situation or providing opportunities for the teachers to defend themselves.
It was the second weekly gathering of teachers and aspiring teachers, as the organizers seek to hold rallies regularly until early September, which will be 49 days after the death of the 23-year-old teacher who took her own life in an elementary school classroom in Seocho-gu, earlier in July. The rally last week saw some 5,000 participants.
Saturday's rally indicated that parents' abuse of the right to report a child abuse case against teachers has been obstructing teachers' responsibility to manage their behavior and discipline them appropriately, as often teachers believe no actual child abuse was committed.
Once a teacher is accused of abusing a student in his or her classroom, the teacher is suspended and the rest of the child's classmates and their parents face the change of the teacher into a substitute teacher, and the accused teacher cannot return until they are cleared of the abuse allegation.
"Consequently, the classroom (ecosystem) is imploding," an unnamed teacher said before the protesters.
"We are seeing the children's right to be protected being respected at all times, while teachers' responsibility to teach children how to behave appropriately is being dwarfed by the law to prevent child abuse. This needs to improve."
Also joining the rally was another unnamed teacher with over 20 years of work experience, who was acquitted of her child abuse allegation earlier in July after a year of litigation.
The teacher was accused of child abuse by the parent of a student who beat up their classmates. She had flipped a table to get students' attention when a student was exerting violence, and tore into pieces what was supposed to be a letter of apology by the student as it contained no show of apology and the student told the teacher she should let go of it.
Wearing sunglasses, the teacher claimed that a teacher who tries to break up a fight between classmates faces allegations of physical abuse, and a teacher who yells at children who picked a fight will face allegations of emotional abuse.
"Is it normal to take our courage in both hands to teach what we are supposed to teach?" she said.
"I feel like I'm walking on thin ice every day. ... The law to prevent child abuse should not be abused to allow parents to handcuff or threaten teachers."
Some 100 professors of Seoul National University of Education also revealed in a joint statement Saturday that any "abnormal complaints" with the authorities against the school or teachers should be defined as an act of the violation of teachers' right to teach.
This is one of the latest developments after the apparent suicide of an elementary school teacher in Seoul’s Seocho-gu on July 19 shed light on abusive students and parents who cross the line to bully teachers, or to take legal action against them, merely because the teacher tried to correct a student's misbehavior.
One of the latest cases garnering public attention is one involving Joo Ho-min, the webtoon artist behind a number of works including "Along with the Gods." Joo and his wife were found to have taken legal action against a teacher for allegedly abusive behavior towards their son, who has autism.
Joo had reportedly secretly recorded the voice of the son's teacher who was trying to discipline Joo's son for his sexual and physical misbehavior towards his female classmates. Based on the recording, the teacher was immediately suspended from their position as the litigation was ongoing. In the meantime, Joo's son moved to another school, while his former classmates had to take classes with a substitute teacher as the case was being decided.
In 2022, there were 202 cases of violations of teachers' rights by students' parents or guardians, according to the Education Ministry.
Among them were 75 cases of verbal abuse and defamation, 45 cases of repeated intervention in teachers' education, 25 cases of the obstruction of duty, 24 cases of threatening behaviors, and 14 cases of physical violence against teachers.
The number of such instances has returned to pre-pandemic levels, as Korea saw 227 of such cases in 2019.
source: The Korea Herald