Seoul Teachers' Union Confirms Evidence of Excessive Parent Complaints

Jang Dae-jin, Senior Vice Chairman of Seoul Teachers' Union, MBC Interview

The Seoul Teachers' Union announced that they have "confirmed many circumstances that made the teacher's life difficult" in relation to the incident where a new teacher died at Seo-i Elementary School in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

Jang Dae-jin, Senior Vice Chairman of the Seoul Teachers' Union, appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' on the 21st and said, "There has been no official announcement yet from the police or the education office regarding the cause of death," adding, "However, we have confirmed circumstances such as about four students in the class having behavioral difficulties, school violence between one student and another among those four, and excessive complaints from parents as a result."

On the 21st, a citizen is paying respects at the condolence altar for homeroom teacher A of Seo-i Elementary School, who died by suicide, at the Gangnam Seocho Office of Education in Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

He said, "We have confirmed these circumstances," and emphasized, "We believe that the police and education authorities must carefully examine these factors when investigating the cause."

Regarding the background of Teacher A's death, he said, "One of the causes of death may reasonably be suspected to be stress related to class management, issues in handling school violence cases, excessive parental complaints, and similar factors."

Senior Vice Chairman Jang explained that although the deceased Teacher A was not in charge of school violence cases, they had a role as the homeroom teacher. He stated, "Because school violence occurs within the class, the homeroom teacher of that class must be the first to respond to parental complaints," and added, "They also have to mediate between the two students involved. Therefore, there is definitely school violence-related work that the homeroom teacher must handle."

Senior Vice Chairman Jang pointed out that indiscriminate reports of child abuse are restricting teachers' educational activities. He said, "There is no false accusation penalty under the Child Abuse Punishment Act, so it can be abused," and continued, "What is more unfortunate is that under the Child Abuse Punishment Act, cases are automatically forwarded to the prosecution, and during the long investigation period, teachers experience stress, and even if they are found innocent, they are left feeling empty."

He added, "Teachers tend to respond passively to avoid being reported for child abuse," and said, "As a result, educational activities, including legitimate teaching activities by teachers, inevitably become limited."

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