Three teacher groups co-host rally joined by 94 organizations
Six demands include child welfare law reform and political rights
Groups call for clearer emotional abuse standards, legal defense costs
Oppose grant restructuring, early school dismissal, essay-test rollout
"Even when a teacher is cleared of all charges, the investigations, the probes and the shattered daily life they endured cannot be undone."
More than 20,000 teachers from across the country (by organizers' estimate) gathered in front of the National Assembly on Friday, Hangul Day, to demand legal reforms that would allow them to teach without fear of child abuse reports.
The Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations, the Teachers' Labor Union Federation and the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union held the rally in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, at 2 p.m. that day. A total of 94 teacher organizations and unions joined the event.
It was the second time the three groups had jointly held a large-scale rally, following a memorial gathering for a Jeju teacher in June last year. Their core demands were: immediate revision of the Child Welfare Act; guaranteed political rights for teachers; opposition to education finance restructuring; full cancellation of the plan to send lower-grade elementary school students home by 3 p.m.; scrapping of discussions on integrating childcare and early education; and opposition to the hasty introduction of essay and descriptive assessments.
The groups particularly stressed the need for legal reform to protect teachers carrying out legitimate student guidance from child abuse reports. They said teachers continue to face reports and investigations even after laws and measures to protect teaching rights were put in place.
A joint statement said, "When a teacher hesitates to provide guidance, students in the same classroom also suffer," and urged revision of the Child Welfare Act and the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes.
The groups also released 50 cases they described as malicious child abuse reports. According to the materials, one teacher who encouraged an absent student to return to school and sent messages urging the student to study on weekends was sued or reported six times but was cleared or had all cases dismissed. The materials also included a case in which a new teacher reported for child abuse after telling a student to sit down during class was cleared, then reported again.
Attorney Jeon Su-min, a former teacher, said the legal definition of emotional child abuse must be clarified and that the current reality — where teachers go on sick leave or take a leave of absence before charges are even proven — must be addressed. She also called for a legal basis allowing teachers who are cleared of charges to seek reimbursement of legal defense costs from the person who filed the report.
Song Su-yeon, chairwoman of the Teachers' Labor Union Federation, said, "Does a finding of no charges erase those horrific months?" She added, "Teachers are trapped in a snare no one can escape — guide a student and it's emotional abuse, don't guide them and it's neglect."
Song also urged the National Assembly to legislate protections for teachers' political rights, saying, "We can uphold the political neutrality of schools while also guaranteeing teachers' basic political rights." She said educators who teach students to participate in a democratic society have their rights as citizens restricted even outside school, and their basic political rights must be guaranteed.
Criticism was also directed at the way education authorities pursue policy. Kang Ju-ho, chairman of the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations, said the Ministry of Education fails to resolve pressing education issues, while the National Curriculum Committee tosses out sensitive agenda items and, when controversy grows, says nothing has been decided yet. He added that the burden and responsibility were being shifted onto schools.
On the restructuring of local education finance grants, the groups said education funding should not be cut simply because student enrollment is declining. "Even as student numbers fall, schools and classes must be maintained, and funding is needed to support special education, basic academic skills and student mental health," they said. "You cannot expand schools' responsibilities while cutting their foundation."
The groups also called for the cancellation of plans to send lower-grade elementary students home by 3 p.m. and for stronger state responsibility for after-school care. On the integration of childcare and early education, they urged a halt to uniform integration discussions, saying the developmental needs and educational conditions of young children at each stage must be guaranteed.
The groups said the expansion of essay and descriptive assessments and AI-based grading must not be pushed forward without first verifying school readiness and the reliability of such evaluations.
Park Young-hwan, chairman of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union, said that while school superintendents and the education minister speak of resolving child abuse reports and malicious complaints, difficulties on the ground persist. "Let us use our united voice to make the government and the National Assembly pay attention to what is happening in our schools," Park said. "Let us build with our own hands schools where teachers are respected and children learn and grow with joy."
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