Repeated Complaints to Child Discipline Teacher... Teachers' Union Urges Parents to Stop

"Stop Filing Child Abuse Complaints"
"Child Welfare Act Must Be Amended"

The Jeonbuk Teachers' Union has urged an immediate halt to a parent who filed complaints, civil petitions, and lawsuits more than 20 times over three years against a homeroom teacher for disciplining their elementary school child who disrupted class.

On the 4th, the Jeonbuk Teachers' Union issued a press release stating, "Stop the repeated child abuse accusations against teachers who issue red cards." According to the teachers' union, in April 2021, in a second-grade classroom at an elementary school in Jeonbuk, a student made noise while playing with a bottled water PET bottle, and teacher A issued a 'red card,' a type of penalty, to encourage participation in class.

In response, parent B visited the school to protest, calling it "emotional abuse," and refused to send their child to school for three days while demanding a change of homeroom teacher. They filed complaints with the Student Rights Review Committee and reported teacher A to the police on charges of child abuse.

The School Teachers' Rights Protection Committee recommended "to stop the unjust interference," but B countered with an administrative lawsuit. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court. In September last year, the Supreme Court ruled that "judgments and educational activities made by teachers during the educational process should be respected unless there are special circumstances," and declared B's actions as 'infringement of teachers' rights.'

However, even after that, B, together with another parent C, continued to file criminal and civil lawsuits. The teachers' union pointed out, "The fact that C's accusations partially copied B's content, that both C and B filed lawsuits on the same dates in November 2023 and August 2024, and that B's address is listed in C's civil lawsuit complaint suggests prior collusion and actions intended to harass the teacher."

They also stated, "C is currently a professor at a university in Jeonju," adding, "It is incomprehensible that an educator teaching students from the podium would recklessly and maliciously report child abuse against a fellow educator." They continued, "It is very regrettable that despite smooth communication with teacher A at the time in 2021 and no major issues, the lawsuit proceeded based on a medical certificate issued one and a half years later."

The teachers' union called on the National Assembly to "amend Article 17, Clause 5 of the Child Welfare Act so that intentional and non-persistent abuse is not considered child abuse." They also proposed to the Ministry of Health and Welfare to prepare an enforcement decree to terminate investigations at the police stage for child abuse cases without charges, in order to reduce the suffering caused by false accusations under the Child Welfare Act.

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