Parents required to make reservation before talking to teachers: Seoul education chief

Parents in Seoul will be required to make a reservation before meeting or talking by phone with teachers in an experimental project to prevent teacher harassment by parents in the wake of the suicide of a young teacher, the education chief said Monday.

Teachers’ call for protection from abusive parents and students is gaining public attention after a 24-year-old teacher killed herself at an elementary school in southern Seoul last month after having a hard time dealing with parents over a school violence case.

Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said Wednesday that an experimental advance reservation system will be adopted at schools in Seoul next month in order to lessen teachers’ burdens stemming from parents’ complaints.

Under the pilot system, parents wanting a meeting or a phone call with teachers are required to make a prior reservation on a special application. A chatbot will deal with general complaints from parents, according to the plan.

In line with the plan, the education office will also launch a pilot project to install camera-monitored waiting rooms inside some schools in September to help schools control access. Parents wanting a meeting with teachers will be required to wait in the room.

The office will also expand a plan to replace teachers’ school telephones with new ones with a voice recording function to better deal with abusive parents.

“Abusive complaints from some parents go beyond infringing on normal education activities to threaten teachers’ personal right to live,” Cho said, adding the plans would help stop parents’ complaints from going directly to teachers.