"Students Restrained and Accused of Child Abuse... Schools Turned into Chaos"

"Reluctance to Hold Teacher Rights Protection Committee Amid Abuse Reports and Complaints"
Busan Office of Education Handles Malicious Complaints Directly at Headquarters

Ha Yoon-soo, Superintendent of Education for Busan City, stated on the 25th that in relation to the recent issue of teacher authority violations sparked by an incident where a teacher at an elementary school in Seoul made an extreme choice, "Generally, physical contact can occur during the process of restraining a student, but because such actions can lead to accusations of child abuse and complaints from parents, many teachers are reluctant to hold teacher authority protection committee meetings."

Superintendent Ha appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' that day and explained, "The parents of the offending student file lawsuits under the Child Abuse Prevention Act and counterattack. From the teacher's perspective, the process until a ruling that it is not abuse is made is very long and painful. The school becomes a complete mess."

On the 24th, citizens visited the memorial altar of Teacher A from Seoi Elementary School, set up at the Gangnam Seocho Education Support Office in Seoul, to pay their respects to the deceased. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Recently in Busan, public outrage arose after it was belatedly revealed that an elementary school student assaulted a teacher during class. On the 12th of last month, a third-grade student, A, at an elementary school in Busan hit the teacher's face and kicked the teacher's body during class. The victim teacher suffered injuries to the sternum and other areas, receiving a medical diagnosis requiring three weeks of treatment, and immediately took sick leave.

Regarding the incident, Superintendent Ha said, "The teacher is experiencing not only physical pain but also severe psychological distress, so communication with the teacher is currently practically impossible, which is regrettable."

He also revealed that the Busan Office of Education defines malicious complaints as those repeated three or more times. Superintendent Ha explained, "We have defined malicious complaints as repeatedly submitting the same complaint to a teacher three or more times. Teachers can avoid these, and from that point, the Office of Education will directly intervene. Malicious complaints will be resolved immediately by the main office."

Superintendent Ha added, "Complaints received after working hours will be systematically organized by our Office of Education, and ultimately, we are reviewing and working on measures to prevent complaints from reaching teachers."

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