KB News Desk
A contract middle school teacher in North Gyeongsang Province has been reported to police for alleged emotional abuse after filming students for several seconds to quiet a noisy classroom, prompting a teachers’ union to call the response excessive.
According to the North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education and Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday, a complaint was filed last month accusing the teacher of child abuse at a middle school in Yeongju.
The teacher, identified only as A, reportedly used a mobile phone on two or three occasions to record the classroom after students repeatedly ignored instructions to sit down and remain quiet. Each recording lasted about five seconds.
A allegedly told the students that the videos would be shown to their parents. The recordings, however, were never shared and were later deleted, according to the investigation.
The North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education referred the case to a personnel advisory committee, where A said the recordings were made solely to restore order in the classroom.
The committee nevertheless determined that the filming amounted to emotional abuse, citing the lack of consent to record the students and reports that some students felt uncomfortable.
The education office removed A from homeroom duties, and the school principal issued a warning.
Police said they would determine whether the teacher’s conduct constituted a criminal offense after examining the circumstances of the case.
The North Gyeongsang branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union criticized the measures as an infringement of teachers’ rights, noting that the recordings had not been shared with parents.
“We are required to report any suspected signs of child abuse, however slight, so we referred the case to the relevant authorities,” an official from the North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education said. “We are reviewing measures to prevent a recurrence.”
