Teacher suicide exposes parent bullying in S Korea

On 5 June, Lee Min-so* described successful her diary the fearfulness that overtook her assemblage arsenic she entered her schoolroom to teach: "My thorax feels excessively tight. I consciousness similar I'm going to autumn somewhere. I don't adjacent cognize wherever I am."

On 3 July the superior schoolhouse teacher wrote that she had go truthful overwhelmed by the craziness of enactment she "wanted to fto go".

Two weeks later, the 23-year-old was recovered dormant successful her schoolroom store cupboard by her colleagues. She had taken her ain life.

Min-so's cousin, Park Du-yong, struggles not to outcry arsenic helium straightens retired her small, bare apartment, present location to conscionable her goldfish. Her furniture is unmade, and beside it sits a heap of drawings from her first-grade students, telling her however overmuch they loved her. Underneath is simply a stack of room books connected however to header with depression.

Park says his relative had been teaching for small implicit a year, fulfilling her puerility imagination by pursuing her parent into the profession. She had adored the kids, helium says.

So successful the days aft his cousin's death, which constabulary rapidly pinned connected a caller breakup, Park assumed the relation of detective. He unearthed hundreds of diary entries, enactment logs and substance messages.

They revealed that successful the months starring up to her suicide, Min-so had been bombarded by complaints from parents. Most recently, 1 of her pupils had slashed different child's caput with a pencil, and she'd been embroiled successful heated precocious telephone calls and messages with the parents.

This calamity has unleashed a question of choler from superior schoolhouse teachers crossed South Korea, who person started to stock their experiences of being bullied by overbearing parents and unruly children.

They accidental parents often propulsion them to breaking point, by calling their idiosyncratic phones each hr of the time and weekends, incessantly and unfairly complaining.

Some of the complaints person an particularly sinister edge. Teachers tin beryllium reported for kid maltreatment for restraining a convulsive child, portion a telling disconnected is often labelled arsenic affectional abuse. Such accusations tin spot teachers instantly removed from their jobs.

One teacher received a ailment aft denying a parent's petition to aftermath their kid up with a telephone telephone each morning. Another was reported for affectional maltreatment aft taking reward stickers disconnected a lad who had chopped his classmate with scissors.

For the past six weeks, tens of thousands of teachers person rallied successful Seoul, claiming they are present truthful frightened of being called kid abusers, they are incapable to subject their students and intervene arsenic they onslaught each other.

They impeach parents of exploiting a kid payment law, passed successful 2014, which dictates that teachers who are accused of kid maltreatment are automatically suspended.

At 1 protest, 28-year aged teacher Kim Jin-seo said that she had experienced suicidal thoughts, and needed 3 months disconnected work, pursuing 2 peculiarly assertive complaints. In 1 lawsuit she had asked a disruptive pupil to instrumentality 5 minutes to stitchery their thoughts successful the toilet, portion successful the different she had reported a kid to his parents for fighting. In some instances, the schoolhouse forced her to apologise.

Kim said she reached the constituent wherever she did not consciousness she could safely thatch her class: "We teachers consciousness highly disempowered. Those who person had experienced this first-hand are fundamentally changed, and those who haven't, person seen it hap to others, truthful either mode it is debilitating."

Fuelling this civilization of complaining is South Korea's hyper-competitive society, wherever astir everything hinges connected world success. Students vie fiercely for the champion grades from a precise young age, to 1 time get into the champion universities. Outside school, parents nonstop their children to survey astatine costly extra-curriculum schools known arsenic hagwons, which run from 5am to 10pm. Whereas families successful Korea utilized to person 5 oregon six children, present astir person conscionable one, meaning they person conscionable 1 changeable astatine success.

Professor Kim Bong-jae, who trains aboriginal teachers astatine Seoul National University of Education, said rising inequality was besides to blame.

Traditionally, Korea had a precise beardown civilization of respecting teachers, helium explained, but due to the fact that of the country's accelerated economical growth, galore parents are present highly educated. "This means they often look down connected teachers," helium said. "They deliberation they person paid for them with their taxes. This creates a beardown consciousness of entitlement."

Another teacher, Kwon, told america that successful the 10 years helium had been teaching helium had taken 2 periods of sick permission to header with slump and panic attacks, triggered by the accent caused by parents and pupils.

Up until 4 years agone you could nonstop a disruptive pupil extracurricular oregon to the backmost of the room, helium said, but past parents started suing for kid abuse. Kwon precocious moved to a schoolhouse successful a poorer community, and confirmed the behaviour of parents successful affluent areas was acold worse.

"Their mentality is 'only my kid matters', and erstwhile each you tin deliberation astir is sending your ain kid to a bully college, you go precise selfish," helium said. He has nary uncertainty this unit filters done to the children, affecting their behaviour too. "They don't cognize however to merchandise this pressure, truthful they enactment retired by hurting each other."

Bullying and unit among pupils are known problems successful South Korean schools. Last year's fashionable K-drama The Glory centred astir a pistillate seeking revenge connected her erstwhile bullies. It was based connected existent events, and depicted immoderate disturbing acts of violence. In a crippled twist, the show's manager was himself accused of bullying and forced to apologise.

In February, the government, nether unit to code the issue, announced that pupils' bullying records would beryllium included successful their assemblage applications. While hoping to incentivise students not to bully each other, this has further fuelled parents' anxieties, causing them to heap unit connected teachers to erase their child's wrongdoings.

Shin Min-hyang, who runs the organisation Solidarity for the Protection of Human Rights of Students and Parents, admitted overmuch of the behaviour highlighted implicit the past period was unacceptable, but argued that these cases were outliers.

"The immense bulk of parents behave well, and we are acrophobic that the channels we usage to pass our concerns volition present beryllium chopped off. Parents are being framed arsenic the culprit, and it is not right," she said.

But Shin admitted she had complained astir teachers successful the past and would similar much input implicit what her kid was taught and however they were disciplined.

One parent, who did not privation to beryllium named, said helium disquieted complaints had spiralled retired of hand. He showed america the contents of a radical chat, successful which parents were encouraging each different to harass a teacher implicit a determination she had made. "If your fig gets blocked, past usage your household and friends' phones to call," 1 genitor connected the chat had instructed.

"If teachers don't person the powerfulness to intervene with problematic students, past others volition beryllium negatively affected," the unnamed genitor told us.

Additionally, students whitethorn beryllium near with less teachers altogether. According to a 2023 survey, little than a 4th of teachers (24%) were satisfied with their job, down from 68% successful 2006, erstwhile the survey began. A ample bulk said they had thought astir leaving the assemblage successful the past year.

The authorities has agreed its classrooms are "broken". It has issued caller guidelines to teachers, stating that teachers volition beryllium capable to region disruptive students from the schoolroom and restrain them if necessary. They accidental that parents indispensable hold with teachers the day and clip of meetings successful advance, and teachers tin garbage to conscionable aft work.

South Korea's acquisition curate Lee Ju-ho said helium hoped these measures "would instrumentality schools backmost to what they should be".

But determination are plentifulness present who reason it is not conscionable classrooms that are breached - that South Korea's full acquisition strategy needs to beryllium reformed, on with society's constrictive explanation of success, due to the fact that everyone stands to payment from a nine wherever grades bash not marque oregon interruption lives.

*We person changed the sanction of the deceased astatine the petition of her family.

Additional reporting by Hosu Lee and Lee Hyun Choi

If you unrecorded successful South Korea, you tin visit present for help, oregon telephone LifeLine connected 1588-9191 oregon the Suicide Prevention Hotline connected 1577-0199.