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| As teachers are set to stage a massive rally, children and a mother lay flowers on the memorial altar for the deceased teacher at an elementaryy school where she taught in Seoul, Monday, Sept. 4. Yonhap |
School teachers were set to hold a massive rally in Seoul on Monday to mourn the recent suicide deaths of fellow teachers distressed by disgruntled parents and unruly students, and to call for measures to prevent such tragedies.
The rally, set to begin at 4:30 p.m. in front of the National Assembly, had originally been planned to mourn the death of a young teacher in Seoul who took her own life in July after struggling to deal with a school violence case.
But at least two additional teacher suicides happened last week, one in Seoul on Thursday and the other in the southwestern city of Gunsan on Friday, adding fuel to the anger about bad treatment of teachers and raising the possibility of Monday's rally becoming the largest-ever teacher protest.
Many teachers have filed for a one-day leave of absence to attend the rally, and some 30 elementary schools across the nation have even designated Monday a temporary holiday as too many teachers wanted to take a day off for the collective action, called "Public Education Stoppage Day."
A teacher at an elementary school in western Seoul said only 14 of the school's 48 teachers came to work, with the rest taking the day off apparently to attend the rally. Situations at other elementary schools were believed to be similar.
Teachers in provincial regions also planned to hold rallies in front of regional education offices.
Monday marks the 49th day since the young teacher died. In Buddhism, the 49th day after death is when the souls of the deceased head off to the afterlife. In Korea, the 49th-day ceremony is one of the most important postmortem rituals for the dead.
"Participating teachers plan to call for the truth behind the young teacher's death to be found and an immediate revision to the child abuse crimes act in front of the National Assembly," a person in charge of organizing the rally said.
Teachers believe the act can hold teachers accountable for child abuse for what they consider to be necessary disciplinary action against students. The act, they said, exposes many teachers to abusive behaviors by students and parents.
A temporary commemoration place was to run through the day on the schoolyard of the Seo2 Elementary School in southern Seoul, where the young teacher taught, while the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education was scheduled to host a commemoration ceremony at the school's auditorium in the afternoon, with Seoul education superintendent Cho Hee-yeon and the chiefs of three major teachers' unions in attendance.
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| Teachers hold leaflets calling for changes to education laws to better protect their rights, during a rally near the National Assembly in Seoul, Saturday. Yonhap |
On Saturday, around 200,000 teachers from around the country gathered in Seoul's Yeouido near the National Assembly to commemorate the recent deaths of teachers and to call for the better protection of their rights.
It is very rare for teachers to stage such a large rally on their own without the involvement of labor unions.
The Education Ministry maintains that any teacher taking a leave of absence to join the collective action will be dealt with sternly in accordance with the law and principles.
Education Minister Lee Ju-ho on Sunday asked for teachers to refrain from taking a leave of absence to attend the planned mass rally while pledging to take measures to enhance their rights and authority in the classroom.
Under the current labor law, teachers don't have the right to collective action, and the ministry has warned that taking a leave of absence by teachers en masse is tantamount to an indirect walkout.
The education ministry said no major class disruptions have been reported, but about 1,500 elementary teachers were estimated to have taken the day off in Busan, which has a population of some 9,400 elementary school teachers. In South Gyeongsang Province, about 10 percent of its 12,400 elementary school teachers did not report to work.
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