Court ruling on teachers` rights violation sets alarm

Kim and his wife beat the homeroom teacher while threatening with a flowerpot and flag pole by forcing her to kneel down at the principal’s office for the reason of beating their son. Park Chang-soo, a senior judge at the Changwon District Court, sentenced Kim to eight months in prison, and two others including Kim’s wife to six months in prison with two years of probation, respectively. The ruling set an alarm in Korean society that violation of teachers` rights cannot be tolerated any longer.

Prior to the ruling, Judge Park asked the Kim couple “to visit the school and seek forgiveness by kneeling down,” and postponed ruling. On behalf of Kim, who had been arrested, his wife visited the school twice, and made an apology to the teacher on the phone. Despite this, the judge gave them prison sentences, saying, “Taking vengeance privately for unfair punishment that their son might have received, rather than resolving the case through dialogue or a lawful measure, is an act that cannot be tolerated.” An apology that she hurriedly made to lessen their punishment is far from a sincere apology.

Violations of teachers’ rights have reached a point where they can no longer be left unaddressed in Korean society. According to the Education Ministry, an average of 40 cases of teaching rights violation occurs every day at elementary, middle and high schools nationwide. The number of such cases increased from 1,570 in 2009 to 7,900 in 2012. Most of the cases are verbal abuse and obstruction of classes, but about 200 cases are beating of teachers and sexual harassments. Violations of teachers’ rights committed by parents are also growing in number, including civil complaints against innocent teachers, verbal abuse, beating, and civil and criminal lawsuits. In one case, a homeroom teacher asked parents to have their child wash before sending to school,” but one of the parents threatened that “the teacher is getting my child bullied,” and in another case, a parent secretively recorded class in session at school and threatened for the teacher’s remarks.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that teachers’ rights violations have surged in number in tune with the implementation of students’ human rights ordinance, which some of the so-called “left-leaning education superintendents” pushed to implement. In a survey by the Korean Federation of Teachers` Associations, seven out of 10 teachers responded that they experienced cases of students’ rights to study and teachers’ teaching rights infringed upon since the effectuation of ban on corporal punishment and students’ human rights ordinance. Four out of 10 teachers experienced hearing abusive language or had their teaching rights infringed upon while guiding students. Since students’ rights are regarded as a matter of utmost value, teachers are considered “violators of human rights,” which has become an important cause of the deterioration of teachers’ authority. The education community seeks amendment to the Teachers’ Rights Protection Act, but teachers’ rights cannot be protected only through law. The attitude of parents displaying acts of respect to teachers in front of their children is a great teaching for personality to the children. The Changwon court’s ruling will make important contributions to reviving teachers’ rights that had a free fall to hit the rock bottom.