A씨, in his 50s, who serves as the head of student affairs at a middle school in Gyeonggi Province.

Last December, he was struck in the classroom by a bag full of books swung by a student nearly 180cm tall, resulting in a diagnosis requiring two weeks of medical treatment.

[A/Victim Teacher : I hit the blackboard, crouched down, and couldn't catch my breath. It hurt so much that I couldn't even speak.]

When the student in question tried to leave home without apologizing, A tried to stop him, and the parent reported him to the police for child abuse under the pretext of 'confinement,' teacher A lamented.

[A/Victim Teacher : I feel wronged but have nowhere to turn, and with a crowd of people gathered, I felt humiliated and embarrassed. Am I even a teacher? That's the feeling I got.]

While A was explaining the situation to the provincial office of education and other entities, the student graduated two months later without complying with the investigation by the Teachers' Rights Protection Committee.

According to Ministry of Education data obtained by SBS, cases of teachers suffering injuries or physical assaults from students or guardians surged more than fourfold from 113 cases in 2020 to 561 cases in 2025, increasing for five consecutive years.

Sexual violence crimes against teachers by students or guardians also continued to rise from 31 cases in 2020, reaching 157 cases in 2024 and 114 cases in 2025.

Cases involving the unauthorized distribution of photos, audio recordings, and composite media targeting teachers, which have been tracked since 2022, jumped from 11 cases in 2022 to over 100 cases in both 2024 and 2025.

[Baek Seung-ah / Member of the National Assembly Education Committee (Democratic Party) : We must continuously inspect whether teacher protection systems, such as legal and psychological recovery support, are functioning properly in the field so that teachers do not have to shoulder the damage alone.]

A bill has also been proposed and is currently under review in the National Assembly to automatically terminate investigations if a teacher is reported for child abuse, provided there is an opinion from the superintendent of education recognizing 'legitimate guidance' and a police judgment of no charges.

Reported by Park Jaeyeon | Produced by Lee Seyoung | Video by Lee Moo-jin and Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by Yu Mira | Design by Kim Yeji | Produced by SBS Digital News