In July of this year, a teacher who had just been employed was found dead at school. She had suffered from malicious complaints from students’ parents, but had not received proper protection throughout the process. The cause of her death was suicide, but in my own view, the school and the government all have her blood on their hands. This is not my opinion alone. After the incident, on September 4th, many teachers took to the streets instead of going to work. Teachers on the streets cried out for the protection of teachers’ rights in memory of her death.

Unfortunately, this is not the only case of a teacher taking their life. According to Reuters, as many as a hundred teachers have chosen to commit suicide in the past six years in Korea. In addition, according to the National Health Insurance Service, the number of teachers treated at hospitals for depression has doubled in the past five years. What is making life so hard for teachers? According to one teacher who participated in the protest in September, it can be seen that in Korea, teachers do not have the authority to handle students' problematic behavior. Students can likely feel resentful and uncomfortable during the process of having their problematic behavior addressed, which is natural. However, when students who are being corrected at school complain to their parents, many parents only hear one side of the story and file complaints against the school. In those cases, the teachers’ instructional authority disappears. Additionally problematic is that schools are being used as a mixed space for education and childcare these days. The homeroom teacher must respond to even minor requests from students' parents. In some cases, if teachers do not listen to these minute requests, parents will file an accusation saying that the teacher is discriminating against students.

Many teachers believe that the following matters must be addressed in order to improve teachers’ rights: It is necessary to change the legal definition of ambiguous school violence and to divide the procedure of handling cases. In order for these matters to be properly addressed, the Office of Education, or the central government, will have to step up. Some say these problems are occurring due to excessive respect for student human rights. However, student rights and teacher rights are not opposing values. Everyone should be equally respected. Teachers are desperate for public education not to collapse, for the proper growth of students, and for their own survival. As a person who wants to become a teacher in the future, I hope that schools will be a joyful place for both teachers and students.