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Neverending violations of teachers’ rights

Published: 29 Nov. 2023, 20:15

Overstepping by unruly parents continues to torment teachers and undermine school order. One instructor who caught a student cheating during the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) on Nov. 16 faced incessant harassment from the student’s parents and had to request a special break for mental health treatment. The parent of a student — whose position as vice president of an elementary school in Seoul was revoked when it was discovered that they’d violated election rules — filed numerous complaints to school authorities to the extent of disrupting educational activities.

The parent, according to educational authorities in Seoul, staged a on-person strike in front of the teacher who had reported their child. They held a sign demanding the instructor’s punishment. The demonstration threatened the teacher’s dignity and the fairness of the government-administered CSAT. The parent has a degree from the Korean National Police University and a legal license, and thus should be well aware of the law.

A CSAT supervisor must stay strictly anonymous so that illicit pressure and influence won’t interfere with their task of administrating the test fairly and strictly. Any complaint about the process must be dealt with according to legal procedures; the parents of students should not be taking intimidating actions on their own. The parent in question claims that there was no illegality to their actions. But the taking of personal revenge by digging up private information about a test supervisor cannot be tolerated.

The parent who protested her child’s disqualification as a student council member filed seven complaints against the school, eight claims for administrative trials and 300 requests for information disclosure. Civil complaints filed on the jurisdiction’s website amounted to 24. The barrage of complaints could have destabilized the school administration.

The death of a young teacher at Seo-2 Elementary School under the pressure of parental harassment in July triggered deep sympathy among educators, who subsequently took to the streets to raise awareness about the serious threats teachers’ authority. The government and legislature made some amendments to enhance teachers’ rights, but the latest episodes show that changes are still yet to come. Members of schools must respect one another more. Parents also must put aside their selfishness and guide their children to build a sense of communalism in Korea. The future of our society will be dark if our children grow up with misguided values.