For months, tens of thousands of educators have protested nationwide against a rule they say keeps them from disciplining students for fear of being accused of child abuse.
Tens of thousands of teachers across South Korea have protested in the streets since July amid worsening complaints over student misbehavior and harassment by parents.
On Saturday, a large protest was held near the National Assembly in Seoul, estimated by the local police at 100,000 people. On Monday, tens of thousands of teachers nationwide took a coordinated leave of absence and held rallies nationwide, according to organizers — an unusual tactic used to sidestep the law that makes it illegal for them to strike in South Korea.
On Monday, when teachers also mourned the suicide of a teacher who claimed to have suffered at the hands of abusive parents, some elementary schools canceled classes, according to the Education Ministry — a rare occurrence.
In a country known for its fiercely competitive schools and the weight that society places on education, students and parents are not the only parties under immense stress. Teachers say that they often face pressure from parents who make excessive or impossible demands of them, including favoritism for their children.
“Teachers aren’t able to do their jobs right now,” said Jo Chan-woo, 34, a teacher in Seoul who attended the rally on Monday. “Let us do our jobs.”
One of teachers’ central demands includes revising an ambiguous clause in the country’s Child Welfare Act meant to prohibit child abuse. Teachers say that the ambiguity allows parents to file — or threaten to file — child abuse charges against teachers who take reasonable disciplinary action against student misbehavior. Even if a teacher is falsely accused, they could be suspended from their job and left alone to defend themselves in court, teachers and education experts say.
Teachers say the fear of facing such allegations has scared them from responding to misbehaving students and empowered some parents to harass teachers. Abusive calls and texts from such parents, compounded by teachers’ growing administrative duties, have damaged the mental health of many teachers, experts say.
Teachers have demanded that the government provide clear guidelines on disciplining students. (Teachers in South Korea are government employees whose conduct and duties are defined by the country’s laws.)
“We’re asking the government to provide a specific manual for dealing with misbehaving students,” said Son Gyeong-eun, 33, a teacher in Seoul who rallied on Monday. “Reasonable discipline shouldn’t count as child abuse.”
The teachers’ movement was sparked in part by the apparent suicide of a young teacher in July at an elementary school in Seoul after she had expressed concerns to her colleagues about being harassed by parents. Her death, which police officials have said is being investigated as a suicide, shocked the public, including the legions of teachers who have since held vigils and rallies every weekend to demand better protections for educators.
The Education Ministry said it supported the changes demanded by the teachers — but warned that they and their principals could face punishment for protesting because collective action is illegal for government employees. Teachers at Monday’s rallies legally used sick leave or vacation days, said Jang Dae-jin, a spokesman for one of the country’s teachers’ unions.
The rallies of the past few months have been led by a grassroots group of teachers that is independent from the unions, which do not have the power to authorize such demonstrations, Mr. Jang said.
Representatives of parents’ associations in South Korea said they sympathized with the difficulties that teachers faced in their work environments, but argued that some of their demands were impractical and that parents were being blamed.