Teacher lying on the podium fiddling with a cellphone during class... "The harsh reality of declining teacher authority"

Education Authorities Investigating Circumstances
JeonGyoJo: "Violation of Teachers' Educational Rights... Education Office Must Conduct a Fact-Finding Investigation"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] A controversy over infringement of teacher's authority has arisen as a video showing a middle school student in Hongseong, Chungnam, lying on the podium holding a cellphone and seemingly filming a teacher during class has spread.

According to the Chungnam Office of Education on the 29th, a 12-second video was posted on social networking services (SNS) on the 26th, showing a male student lying on the podium and apparently filming a female teacher during class with a cellphone.

In the video, the teacher focused on the lesson without responding to the student's behavior, and other students did not stop him. Voices of male students in the classroom saying, "Let's go for 500 this time," and "Is this the right behavior?" along with laughter were also included.

The school took measures to have the problematic video removed. The intention behind the student lying on the podium has not yet been revealed, and the education authorities are currently investigating the circumstances at the middle school where the video is known to have been filmed.

However, the video quickly spread online, leading to repeated criticisms of 'infringement of teacher's authority.' The Chungnam branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) issued a statement on the 29th, claiming it was an infringement on the teacher's educational rights. The KTU stated, "We judge this issue as an 'infringement of the teacher's educational rights' that occurred during class," and emphasized, "The Chungnam Office of Education must now conduct a proper investigation into the video content and take appropriate measures."

The Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations (President Jeong Seong-guk) and the Chungcheongnam-do Teachers' Association (President Yoon Yong-ho) also issued statements on the same day, calling it "an incident revealing the ugly truth of the decline in teacher authority," and urged, "Immediate establishment of a student guidance law is necessary to restore teacher authority and protect the learning rights of many students."

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Education, there were 2,269 cases of educational activity infringement last year, and a total of 11,148 cases occurred over the past five years. Excluding 2020, when face-to-face classes were limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic (1,197 cases), the number amounts to about 2,000 cases annually.

In particular, incidents related to cellphone use on school premises continue unabated. Cases of sexual violence and sexual harassment through cellphones submitted to the School Authority Protection Committee include ▲ a teacher caught filming under her skirt while climbing stairs on the way to work, ▲ three students filming a female teacher's back and legs with cellphones, and ▲ a student filming a teacher inside the women's restroom using a cellphone.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.