"Teacher, Everything But the Shadow Is Trampled"... Councilor Kim Jeong-ok Reports 172 Cases of Educational Rights Violations in Daegu Last Year

Daegu City Council 5-Minute Speech Criticism

“Ordinance Enactment for School Entry Permission, etc.”

Daegu City Council member Kim Jeong-ok (People Power Party, proportional representation) pointed out the increasingly serious reality of infringements on teachers' authority during a 5-minute free speech at the 3rd plenary session of the 302nd extraordinary meeting held on the 31st, urging the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education to establish practical countermeasures.

On July 18, a tragic incident occurred where an elementary school teacher in Seoul took an extreme measure on school grounds, and in June, there have been frequent cases of infringement on teachers' authority, such as a student verbally abusing and confronting a teacher at an elementary school in Daegu.

Councilor Kim Jeong-ok of Daegu City Council delivering a 5-minute speech.

In her 5-minute free speech, Daegu City Council member Kim Jeong-ok stated, “In the past, there was a saying, ‘A student does not even step on the shadow of a teacher,’ but recently, a bitter saying has emerged, ‘Teachers are stepped on except for their shadows.’ Statistically, the number of infringements on educational activities in Daegu increased more than twice from 76 cases in 2020 to 172 cases in 2022 compared to 2020,” pointing out the decline in teachers' authority.

Council member Kim proposed three measures to the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education to protect threatened educational activities: “strengthen the current system protecting educational activities,” “establish practical systems to protect teachers from malicious complaints,” and “create an environment where teachers can focus on educational activities.”

Kim Jeong-ok emphasized the need for the Daegu city-level establishment of a standard school regulation to minimize confusion and helplessness on the ground, and argued that the current system should be improved so that teachers who have suffered infringements on their authority can be promptly transferred within similar school levels if they wish.

She added, “Currently, teachers are connected to parental complaints throughout their daily lives, but passive measures such as providing teachers’ safe numbers or extension numbers cannot be a solution to malicious complaints,” and announced plans to enact ordinances such as ‘restricting contact during class hours,’ ‘limiting consultations outside working hours,’ and ‘prior approval for school visits.’

Daegu City Council member Kim also emphasized, “Teachers should focus on student education such as classes and guidance, but they are excessively burdened with non-essential administrative tasks,” and stressed, “A consultative body including teacher organizations should be formed to fully reflect frontline teachers’ opinions, and urgent measures should be prepared to reduce teachers’ non-essential tasks.”

Council member Kim said, “The victims of infringements on teachers’ authority are not only the teachers themselves but inevitably also the students and parents who are the beneficiaries and consumers of education,” and expressed hope that “practical measures to protect educational activities will be promptly established so that the educational field can be a happy place for all.”

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