Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education launches teacher rights protection team

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education has launched a large-scale dedicated organization to protect teachers from infringements on their rights and malicious complaints. This is the first initiative of its kind in South Korea.

At an inauguration ceremony held on August 22, Superintendent Ahn Min-seok introduced a team of 300 specialists, including lawyers, doctors, counseling experts, and former police officers. These specialists will provide one-on-one, one-stop support for teachers facing issues such as child abuse allegations, serious infringements on educational activities, and malicious civil complaints. The system aims to absorb the administrative and legal burdens that teachers previously had to manage individually.

The office also unveiled a field response manual outlining a five-step process: initial report and reception, urgency assessment and reporting, emergency field support, case analysis and customized support planning, and case closure with follow-up support. While teacher organizations have welcomed the move as a way to address structural issues, some parent groups have expressed concerns regarding the potential narrowing of legitimate communication channels and have called for clearer guidelines to distinguish between valid grievances and malicious complaints.