Parents complain about child bitten by mosquito... Cases of malicious complaints from parents revealed

Cases of Teacher's Rights Violations... 72% by Parents
Overwhelming Cases of Child Abuse Reports, Threats, and Malicious Complaints

Some parents' 'malicious complaints' against teachers have been identified as the main cause of violations of teachers' rights, and a teachers' organization has revealed specific cases. There were also cases that appeared to be indiscriminate reports of child abuse, such as reporting a teacher for child abuse when a student injured themselves through self-harm.

The Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) announced on the 3rd the results of a survey conducted from July 25 to 26 and the recent status of reports of violations of teachers' rights received through its website. According to the survey, a total of 11,628 cases of violations of teachers' rights by students and parents were reported. Cases of violations by parents (8,344 cases) were more than twice as many as those by students (3,284 cases).

Young teachers belonging to the 2030 Youth Committee of the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) held a press conference in front of the National Assembly on the 27th of last month, urging the establishment of practical measures to restore teachers' authority and the enactment of legislation to protect teachers' rights in relation to the teacher death incident in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News Agency, Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations

The most common type of violation by parents was reports of child abuse, threats, or malicious complaints, accounting for 6,720 cases (57.8%). This was followed by verbal abuse and insults, which accounted for 1,346 cases (16.1%).

In a specific case at an elementary school in Jeonbuk, a student had bruises on their face from self-harm, but the parent reported the teacher for child abuse. Although the teacher was later cleared of charges, the parent refiled the report, claiming that "the teacher made the student angry, causing them to self-harm."

At an elementary school in Seoul, a student was injured after tripping over their own foot while walking in the classroom, but the parent demanded that the teacher be responsible for safety and insisted that the teacher pick up the student by car at the front of their house every day on the way to school. Also, at a kindergarten in Seoul, there was a case where a parent complained, "What was the teacher doing in the classroom?" after their child came home with mosquito bites.

At an elementary school in Gyeonggi Province, a parent grabbed a teacher by the collar and threatened, "Are you ignoring me?" after the teacher made a student who did not complete a writing assignment stay behind to finish it.

On the 24th of last month, elementary school students at Seoi Elementary School in Seocho-gu, Seoul, are commemorating the late teacher Mr. A. Photo by Yonhap News

There were also cases of sexual harassment. At a middle school in Chungbuk, a student made inappropriate remarks to a teacher such as "I want to get you pregnant" and "Can we date?" At a middle school in Daegu, during class, a student made rude comments like "Did you sleep with teacher ㅇㅇㅇ?" and "Should I give the teacher a month off?"

As many cases appear to be false reports of child abuse, demands for amendments to the Child Abuse Punishment Act are growing. Since there are many indiscriminate reports of child abuse, there is a call to create measures that grant immunity from child abuse punishment to protect teachers.

On the 3rd, Seoul Superintendent of Education Cho Hee-yeon appeared on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" and said, "Teachers' legitimate educational and disciplinary activities are being accused as emotional abuse, which in form is a complaint," adding, "I hope the National Assembly will work overnight and respond by amending the Child Abuse Punishment Act to include an immunity clause for child abuse."

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