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▲ Chungnam Office of Education
The Chungnam Office of Education is overhauling its response system to have teacher rights protection officers directly take over and manage teacher rights disputes that schools have failed to resolve over extended periods.
According to the Chungnam Office of Education on Friday (July 24), the Teacher Rights Protection Officer Task Force is reviewing facts and case handling progress, focusing on long-term unresolved cases that have persisted for over a year or remain unsettled despite changes in school principals or teachers in charge.
Launched this month, the task force is currently handling eight cases that are difficult for schools to resolve independently.
Among them, for two major or prolonged cases, school officials such as principals have been relieved from directly dealing with parents, with the education office taking charge of the response.
The school has instructed the parents in question to direct inquiries, objections, and procedural consultations through the education office's assigned attorney, who handles legal reviews and responses to complainants on behalf of the school.
Supervisors belonging to the task force have visited the respective schools to verify the facts and handling progress, formulating legal responses or mediation measures depending on the situation.
Previously, the task force imposed a fine for the first time in Chungnam on a guardian of a student who infringed upon educational activities and failed to complete special education.
It was confirmed that the guardian in question recently paid the fine.
Beyond responding to infringements on educational activities by students and parents, the task force also plans to verify facts in cases where inappropriate remarks or responses by teachers have become an issue.
In addition, the office is stepping up support for teacher recovery by operating healing support camps for teachers who have suffered damage from educational activity infringements or psychological burnout.
Through ordinance revisions and other procedures, the Chungnam Office of Education will officially transform the task force into a formal teacher rights protection division in September.
The teacher rights protection officers will serve as a dedicated body to protect the educational activities of teachers whose work has been undermined by educational activity infringements, malicious civil complaints, child abuse reports, and conflicts with parents.
The goal is to reduce the burden of initial responses on schools and establish a system where the education office takes full responsibility, ranging from prevention and on-site response to teacher recovery.
The organization is scheduled to consist of two teams—provisionally named the Teacher Rights Protection Team and the Teacher Recovery Team—with a planned staff of 20 members.
Chungnam Superintendent of Education Lee Byeong-do stated, "The education office will directly step into conflicts that schools previously had to shoulder alone to protect teachers and normalize school education."
(Photo provided by Chungnam Office of Education, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
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