The Shadow of 'Teacher Evaluation'... A Hotbed of Anonymous Sexual Harassment Against Teachers

Sexual Harassment Posts Targeting 2 Teachers at Chungju High School
"Human Rights Violations Every Year... Abolish Teacher Evaluations"

A high school student in Chungju, Chungbuk, posted sexually humiliating comments about teachers in the Teacher Competency Development Evaluation (Teacher Evaluation), prompting a police investigation. Incidents of defamatory and abusive comments being written anonymously in the teacher evaluation have repeatedly occurred, sparking growing controversy.

Last year, in Sejong City, a high school student was expelled for writing sexually derogatory remarks about a teacher. Teacher organizations are urging the immediate abolition of the teacher evaluation, which has become a tool for human rights violations.

According to the Chungbuk Provincial Office of Education on the 23rd, sexually humiliating comments about two female teachers were confirmed in the teacher evaluation conducted at a high school in Chungju last November. The two victimized female teachers filed complaints with the Chungju Police Station.

The problematic descriptive section of the teacher evaluation included comments such as "Teacher ○○○ should show her buttocks while teaching," and "I hope Teacher ○○○ gets hurt after reading this," which caused the teachers to feel sexual shame and humiliation.

The police investigating the case have raided the Chungbuk Education Information Center, which manages the Education Administration Information System server, and are conducting an investigation to identify the survey respondents.

The teacher evaluation was introduced in 2010 to enhance teacher professionalism. It involves students and parents participating to check satisfaction with teachers and leaving free-form written feedback.

However, because it is conducted anonymously, there have been frequent cases of defamatory criticism and sexual harassment directed at teachers. In response, the Ministry of Education introduced a filtering system to block inappropriate words, but it has not been able to completely prevent vulgar language.

Last year, at a high school in Sejong City, sexual harassment was recorded in the teacher evaluation, including explicit derogatory remarks about a female teacher's body parts, causing a stir. The high school held a Teacher Rights Protection Committee meeting on the 17th of last month and decided to expel the offending student.

Teacher organizations argue that the teacher evaluation fails to fulfill its original purpose and are demanding its abolition. The Chungbuk branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (JeonGyoJo) issued a statement on the 24th saying, "Over more than 10 years since its implementation, the teacher evaluation has degenerated into a tool for serious sexual harassment and human rights violations, proving it to be a useless system in schools," and pointed out, "Problems such as sexual harassment and human rights violations during the teacher evaluation process are not just isolated incidents but are occurring nationwide."

They added, "The Ministry of Education proposed filtering and blind processing as alternatives, but these are merely superficial measures akin to covering the sky with one's palm," and "The education authorities, who talk about innovation every time the minister changes, must deeply reflect and respond with abolition rather than patchwork measures."

However, the Ministry of Education maintains that completely abolishing the teacher evaluation is difficult. They explain that the teacher evaluation is necessary to improve teacher professionalism and enhance trust in public education.

To resolve issues surrounding the teacher evaluation, alternatives such as using real names or IDs instead of anonymity have been proposed. However, there are also opinions that proper evaluation of teachers is difficult without guaranteeing anonymity, so the debate over the continuation or abolition of the teacher evaluation is expected to continue.

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