Exclusive: "I Spent Two Apartments' Worth Raising My Child"... Teacher Sued for Making Student Exercise

[Anchor]

While dramas depicting the infringement of teachers' rights are gaining attention, incidents even more severe than those in fiction are occurring in real-world classrooms. A teacher who was subjected to verbal abuse from a parent and investigated by police for child abuse—simply for having students exercise on the playground—eventually suffered a miscarriage.

Jeong Banseok reports.

[Reporter]

Last June, at a middle school in Gimhae, Gyeongsangnam-do.

A physical education teacher, identified as A, had students perform squats to wrap up a first-period class for first-year students.

Three days later, the teacher received a phone call from the student's grandmother.

[Student's Grandmother: You made our OO stand on the school playground in this heat... Our child has a 'So-yang' body type and doesn't drink water well.]

Although Teacher A explained that the student had never been made to stand separately, the complaints continued.

[Student's Grandmother: I have spent more than the price of two apartments on native English lessons and golf to raise this child. This is not a child that a teacher can treat just any way they please.]

The parent filed a criminal complaint against Teacher A for child abuse, claiming that the teacher had pulled her son's ears and that making him perform the "invisible chair" squat exercise constituted cruel treatment.

[Teacher A/Middle School PE Teacher: I suffered severe insomnia and extreme anxiety, and I was in deep mental shock. As a newlywed, I was waiting for a baby, but I ended up having a miscarriage, and I think that was when I really fell apart.]

The investigation concluded that there was no criminal wrongdoing.

However, the parent's complaints persisted, and entries in Teacher A's diary increasingly read, "I am continuing to fall apart" and "I want to give up on everything."

[Teacher A/Middle School PE Teacher: I even attempted to take my own life, but my husband was there to stop me, so I barely held on. I decided to turn those thoughts of ending my life into a resolve to bring this issue to light, so that no other teachers would suffer like I did.]

Teacher A reported the incident to the Office of Education's Committee for the Protection of Teachers' Rights.

The committee determined that the parent had infringed upon educational activities and ordered the parent to undergo special education, but nothing changed.

The parent's education was not mandatory and fell through, and the parent instead filed additional complaints against Teacher A for false accusation, insult, and defamation.

The parent's side stated that while they respect the decisions of the investigative agencies and the court, it is difficult to provide a response regarding the additional complaints as legal proceedings are currently underway.

Trapped in a cycle of endless litigation, the nightmare that the teacher must endure remains an ongoing reality, even one year later.

(Video reporting: Kim Se-kyung | Video editing: Lee Sang-min | Graphics: Jang Chae-woo)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.