“I wanted to fight for myself and alleviate the suffering of other senior and junior teachers, but I feel helpless in the face of the young teacher’s death.”
Yoon Su-yeon, an elementary school teacher in Gwangju who recently won the stigma of being a ‘child abuse teacher’, told the media in an interview with the media about the incident in Seoi-cho, Seoul, where the situation was similar today (27th).
Teacher Yoon, who has been defending the church for 21 years, was sued by parents for civil and criminal offenses in April of last year after deliberately knocking over a desk and tearing up a letter of self-reflection that had been written insincerely in an attempt to stop a student from fighting by beating another student.
The police believed that teacher Yoon’s behavior amounted to emotional abuse and sent him without detention, but the prosecution dismissed teacher Yoon’s charges due to insufficient evidence after going through the public review committee’s judgment.
The parents even filed an appeal, but the Gwangju High Prosecutor’s Office recently made a decision to dismiss the appeal, saying, “The District Prosecutor’s Office’s judgment was justified even after reviewing the additional evidence presented by the parents.”
A civil lawsuit for damages of 32 million won filed by parents against teacher Yoon was also dismissed, and he escaped from the long tunnel of ‘child abuse teacher’ that harassed him for a year and three months.
On the 17th of this month, teacher Yoon, who was notified of the decision to dismiss the Gwangju High Prosecutor’s Office, clapped his hands with his fellow teachers안전놀이터 at school and shook off their hardships.
However, the joy was short-lived. The very next day, news broke that a young teacher in Seoi-cho, Seoul had committed suicide after suffering from malicious complaints from parents.
Teacher Yoon said, “I endured and fought for a long time to be a strength to other teachers, but when I heard the news of Seoi Elementary School, it was difficult because I felt dejected and thought, ‘What have I done so far?
When he was sued by his parents for civil and criminal complaints, people around him told Teacher Yoon that it was best to apologize and reach an agreement, but he decided to fight until the end.
The church has already been overflowing with cases of malicious complaints from parents for a long time, and it was adequately covered by the money that the teacher bowed his head and handed over.
Enraged by such a reality, Teacher Yoon chose to fight in court instead of the easy way because he wanted to inform the school that there was such a problem and fix it.
Teacher Yoon said, “After being accused of child abuse, I continued to self-censor when I was guiding the children or saying something.” There are many fellow teachers who regret pointing out mistakes and pretending not to have done so.”
He said he was relieved of his resentment, but he was afraid of complaints from parents and he was not confident in guiding students’ lives, so he said he would not be able to take charge of the homeroom for the time being.
After Yoon’s accusation, he did not fight alone for a year and three months.
His students, parents, and fellow teachers across the country submitted more than 1,800 petitions and prolonged life for him, and his 6th grade students sent countless letters to the judges and prosecutors.
Teacher Yoon was grateful for the valuable support around her, but she sighed at the thought that the young teacher who committed suicide and her fellow teachers who are still suffering from malicious complaints are still fighting alone.
Teacher Yoon said, “The biggest problem is that parents’ complaints are excessively pouring into the school.”
He also suggested, “Especially in schools, we need a system whereby teachers and parents do not face each other to receive and process complaints.”
Teacher Yoon said, “My fight did not change the school reality, but the death of one person caused a movement in the education world.” I wish I could,” he said.