"Every Night a Nightmare" 3rd Grader Assaults Teacher During Class in Busan

Indiscriminate Beating of Dozens of Times in Front of Other Students
3 Weeks of Medical Treatment, Over 5 Weeks of Sick Leave Due to Mental Distress
"It Hurts to Remember the Pain of the Children Who Witnessed the Situation"

Recently, an incident where a teacher was assaulted by a 6th-grade student at an elementary school in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, came to light, and a similar incident has been reported in Busan.

According to the Busan Ilbo on the 23rd, last month at an elementary school in Buk-gu, Busan, a 3rd-grade student, A, assaulted teacher B by hitting B's face and kicking B's body during class. Teacher B was reportedly subjected to dozens of indiscriminate blows in front of other students.

An elementary school classroom scene, unrelated to the specific content of the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Students who witnessed the assault called another teacher, and A was separated from the classroom. Teacher B suffered fractures to the sternum and other injuries, was diagnosed with a three-week recovery period, and experienced mental distress, resulting in more than five weeks of sick leave without being able to return to work.

Earlier, in March of this year, Teacher B was reportedly assaulted once while trying to restrain student A. During class, Teacher B told A not to perform a certain behavior, but when A continued, B approached and was struck in the chest from behind by A's head.

Teacher B told Busan Ilbo, “Although A had previously used violence against other students, I never expected A to hit a teacher directly, so I was unable to respond in any way. Since the incident, I have nightmares every night and think about the pain of the other children who witnessed the situation. It is very distressing, and I am unsure if I can return to school.”

Teacher B reported the assault to the school immediately after the incident, but it was reported that the application to the Teacher Rights Protection Committee was not made even after a month. This was because the committee was judged to lack effectiveness in disciplining students and thus did not provide a practical remedy for the damage.

However, following the recent teacher death incident in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and the earlier teacher assault case in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, Teacher B decided to bring this issue into public discussion.

The Busan Teachers' Union stated, “Even if the Teacher Rights Protection Committee is held at the school level, the higher authority, the Office of Education, does not recognize the specific details or severity. There is a need for the Office of Education to investigate cases of teacher rights violations at schools and prepare concrete measures to protect teachers.”

On the 21st, the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education held a meeting with the Busan Teachers' Union, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, and the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations to discuss the necessity of judicial procedure support for protecting teachers' rights and ways to reduce the burden of dealing with malicious complaints faced by frontline teachers. On the 24th, Superintendent Ha Yun-su is scheduled to hold an emergency press conference to announce measures for teacher rights protection.

Meanwhile, regarding the disciplinary decision by the Teacher Rights Protection Committee for the 6th-grade student who indiscriminately assaulted their homeroom teacher in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, it was decided to transfer the student to another school. Despite being the highest level of practical disciplinary action, voices calling for special measures to protect teachers are growing louder.

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