Sexual harassment of teachers by students rises 77% in 4 years: report – Korea Herald view

More students than ever before are being accused of sexual misconduct against teachers, government data shows.

The Education Ministry received 331 cases of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct against teachers in 2022, local media reported. The figure is a 77 percent increase from the 187 cases in 2018. It is not clear how many cases were referred to the police.

This increase is far steeper than the total number of cases of violations of teachers’ rights, which rose from 2,354 to 3,055 during the same period.

In South Korea, the number of teachers being sexually harassed by students has recently increased. In January, the elementary school teachers’ union held a protest rally for teachers’ rights following an incident in which four students at an elementary school in Gimhae distributed a doctored, sexually explicit photo of their teacher.

The teacher did nothing at first, but reported the case to the authorities when he found evidence that the students had continued to insult him, such as with rude finger gestures. The parents of the four students filed a complaint against the teacher for “emotional child abuse”. They accused him, among other things, of not providing adequate air conditioning in the classrooms and of excessively controlling the students during class trips.

The Korean Teachers’ Association believes that student harassment of teachers is worse than the numbers suggest, as teachers are reluctant to report such cases to authorities. In one case, which the KFTA published on its website last year, three students took photos of a teacher, photographing parts of her body, and shared them on instant messaging services.

The perpetrators were forced to transfer to another school, but did not have to fear any serious consequences because they were minors.

Persons under 19 are subject to the juvenile justice law and sentences are generally more lenient than for adult offenders. Children under 14 are protected from any form of legal punishment.

In April, a local court sentenced an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old – both minors at the time of the crime last year – to prison for installing spy cameras in toilets to film female teachers, which they did 44 times. They were given maximum sentences of two years and six months and one year and six months respectively, shorter than the five years and three years sought by prosecutors.

Using a spycam to film another person without their consent is punishable by up to seven years in prison or a fine of 50 million won (US$36,000). South Korean law sets an upper and lower limit for the prison sentence for minors.

Last week, a boy in his third year of primary school was found to have slapped, spat at and verbally abused the deputy head of his school for scolding him.

Given the recent sharp increase in the number of cases of abuse in the teaching profession, morale within the profession is declining.

In May, the KFTA published the results of a survey of 1,320 teachers across the country on their opinions on the teaching profession. According to the survey, 19.7 percent of respondents said they would choose teaching as a career again if they could live their lives again.

This is the lowest level since the group first included this question in its polls in 2012, and less than half the peak of 52.6 percent in 2016.

Only 21.4 percent said they were satisfied with the teaching profession. This is the lowest figure since 2006.