The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education's dedicated teacher rights officers officially launched today (August 22) to provide one-on-one, comprehensive support for teachers who have suffered violations of their teaching activities, from the initial occurrence of an incident to its resolution.

The provincial office held the launch ceremony for the Teacher Rights Protection Team and its dedicated officers, which operates directly under the Superintendent, at the main auditorium of the Jowon Office building in Jangan-gu, Suwon-si this morning.

The dedicated teacher rights officer system is one of the teacher protection policies pursued by Superintendent Ahn Min-seok immediately after taking office. It integrates teacher protection functions that were previously scattered across various departments and institutions to provide victimized teachers with one-stop support.

Through document screening and interview procedures, the provincial office selected 300 dedicated officers, including experts such as doctors, lawyers, and police officers, as well as counselors, conflict resolution specialists, and educators.

Interest in the positions was exceptionally high, with the competition ratio reaching 36 to 1 during the recruitment phase.

The final selected officers completed competency-building training on August 13 and 18. They belong to the Teacher Rights Protection Team—headed directly by the Superintendent—and will be deployed to the field starting August 24.

The dedicated officers will provide one-on-one, dedicated support from the early stages to the resolution of cases for teachers experiencing difficulties due to child abuse reports, serious violations of teaching activities, or malicious complaints.

Specifically, they plan to provide comprehensive support ranging from verifying violations of teaching activities and legal consultation to psychological counseling, recovery, and post-management.

At the launch ceremony, Superintendent Ahn declared, "I officially declare an all-out war against malicious complaints here today," pledging, "The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education will take groundbreaking measures to minimize administrative burdens so that teachers can focus entirely on teaching and classes."

He added, "To all of you, the true heroes of this era serving as dedicated teacher rights officers, I will grant all the practical authority related to the Superintendent's teacher protection activities," and said, "I deeply thank you for making this decisive choice together and standing firm with us."

(Photo provided by Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, Yonhap News)