Authorities have judged a fixed-term teacher's action of using a mobile phone to film the classroom for about 5 seconds over two to three instances to quiet down noisy middle school students during class as "emotional abuse," leading to measures such as a principal's warning and a police report.

As this fact became known, teacher organizations stated that this is an "overreaction that infringes on teachers' rights" and plan to raise an official protest.

According to the Gyeongsangbuk-do Office of Education and other sources on August 12, a complaint was filed with educational authorities early last month alleging that Teacher A, a fixed-term teacher at a middle school in Yeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, had committed child abuse during class.

The investigation revealed that Teacher A, who had been working at the school since last May, filmed the classroom with a mobile phone two to three times after students repeatedly made noise and refused to listen during class.

The length of each video taken by Teacher A was around 5 seconds, and at the time, Teacher A reportedly said, "I will notify the parents (of the recorded footage)."

However, investigations showed that Teacher A did not actually send the videos to the parents and deleted all of them.

Upon receiving the complaint, the Gyeongsangbuk-do Office of Education held a personnel advisory committee regarding Teacher A and others.

At the time, Teacher A reportedly stated, "When I entered the class, it was noisy, so I told the students to sit down and be quiet, but they did not listen. I filmed the video for the purpose of making them quiet."

However, based on grounds such as students complaining of discomfort due to filming without consent for portrait rights, the personnel advisory committee concluded that Teacher A had committed emotional abuse and took disciplinary actions such as removing Teacher A from homeroom duties and issuing a principal's warning.

The police, having received a related report from the educational authorities, have also booked Teacher A on charges of violating the Child Abuse Punishment Act and are looking into the basic facts.

A police official said, "We will figure out the exact details of the incident and determine whether the charges apply."

In response, the Gyeongsangbuk-do branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) stated, "Given that Teacher A did not send the video to parents, the authorities' action this time is a clear infringement on teachers' rights," adding, "After consulting with Teacher A, we plan to take official action."

An official from the Gyeongsangbuk-do Office of Education said, "Reporting is mandatory if there is even the slightest sign of suspected child abuse, so we notified the relevant agency," and added, "We are reviewing measures to prevent this from happening again."

(Photo provided by Yonhap News TV, Yonhap News)