Ulsan Office of Education, Pilot Project Supporting Work Phone Numbers for Teachers

Starting March Next Year, 600 Homeroom Teachers Targeted

Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education building.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Hong Jeonghwan] The Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education will conduct a pilot project starting March next year to provide phone numbers for teachers' work use. This is to protect educational activities.

Until now, voices expressing fatigue over privacy invasion of teachers have been high in the educational field. Typical examples include contact after working hours using personal mobile phone numbers, sending messages unrelated to educational activities, and leaking photos through social networking services.

In 2018, a teachers' organization conducted a survey on teachers' perceptions of infringement of teachers' rights caused by mobile phones outside working hours among 1,835 kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school teachers nationwide. The proportion of respondents who said the damage was severe reached 79.6%.

The city education office will assign separate work phone numbers to homeroom teachers through the pilot project.

Students and parents can call or text teachers using the work phone number. Teachers can set automatic voice messages during class time and outside working hours.

Teachers can inform students and parents of the work phone number and use calls or group chat rooms through a mobile phone app. During class time, the phone will not ring, and an automatic message will be sent to guarantee the right to teach. Outside working hours, a message indicating the end of work will be sent to ensure teachers' rest time and prevent infringement of educational activities.

The pilot project will run from April to August. Approximately 600 homeroom teachers from about 10 schools per school level, including kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high schools, will be selected to receive phone numbers.

An education office official said, "We will protect teachers' stable educational activities by providing work phone number support services," and added, "We plan to review whether to fully introduce the work phone number support service for each teacher by collecting various opinions through the pilot operation."

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