Bill revision targets frivolous complaints against educators

Police to drop cases involving legitimate teaching activities

Shorter investigation periods aim to minimize gaps in classroom instruction

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Seo Young-gyo [Yonhap]
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Seo Young-gyo [Yonhap]

Lawmakers are pushing to revise legislation to protect teachers and students from indiscriminate complaints in schools, with the central goal of reducing the investigative burden on educators carrying out legitimate teaching activities.

Seo Young-gyo, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker who chairs the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, announced Friday that she would pursue amendments to shield teachers and students from frivolous complaints.

In a Facebook post that day, Seo said she would ensure that cases are not referred to prosecutors when a superintendent has determined the conduct in question constitutes "legitimate educational activity," or when police have already concluded there are no grounds for charges.

She added that she would draft a plan to shorten the period from the start to the close of an investigation to the minimum possible. She said she would incorporate those measures along with teachers' opinions and work with fellow committee members to pass an amendment to the Child Abuse Punishment Act — formally, the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes.

Seo also attended a national teachers' rally held outside the National Assembly on Friday, organized by three major educator groups — the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union, and the Korean Teachers' Union — calling for legislative reforms to protect teaching activities.

At the rally, she said she would revise the law "so that teachers can educate children without difficulty, and so that children can continue learning with the teachers they love without being separated from them."

Meanwhile, a survey presented at a forum jointly hosted by the National Education Commission and the Korean Educational Development Institute on July 9 found that 42.6 percent of teachers had experienced violations of their professional rights even after the passage of the so-called "five laws for teacher protection." Respondents also said violations by students and parents had not decreased, with 79.0 percent and 75.5 percent, respectively, reporting no improvement.

The number of teachers leaving the profession mid-career is also rising. Data obtained from the Ministry of Education by People Power Party lawmaker Kim Dae-sik showed that mid-career resignations climbed from 6,704 in 2020 to 7,988 in 2024. The increase was particularly sharp among teachers with fewer than five years of experience, whose mid-career departures rose from 290 in 2020 to 385 in 2025.


terry@heraldcorp.com