Teachers Hold Large-Scale Rally for First Time in 16 Months: "False Child Abuse Reports Must Be Stopped"

"81 out of 100 teachers live in daily fear of being accused of child abuse"
Call for amendments to the Child Welfare Act and guarantees of teachers' basic political rights, among other demands

Three teachers' organizations held a large-scale rally for the first time in one year and four months, calling for schools where education is possible through the protection of educational activities and the establishment and implementation of field-oriented education policies.

On October 9, the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA), the Korean Teachers' Union Federation (KTUF), and the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) jointly held the "National Teachers' Rally Calling for Revisions to the Act on the Guarantee of Educational Activities" in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. The rally was joined by 94 teachers' organizations and unions from across the country, and an estimated more than 20,000 teachers attended, according to the organizers.

The last large-scale nationwide teachers' rally was held in June 2025, at a memorial rally for a teacher in Jeju, one year and four months ago. This was only the second time that the three organizations—the KFTA, KTUF, and KTU—had jointly held a large-scale rally.

Participants said, "In a reality where 80 out of every 100 teachers have experienced violations of their professional rights in the past year, 81 out of every 100 live in daily fear of being accused of child abuse, and 94 out of every 100 hesitate to engage in even legitimate educational activities, it is impossible to provide proper education."

They said, "Although five laws protecting teachers' rights were enacted and the Lee Jae-myung administration announced measures to protect those rights, nothing has changed in the field. On average, two to three teachers are injured or assaulted each day, and indiscriminate child abuse reports continue. This grim reality leaves teachers afraid to teach and students unable to learn fully, undermining the foundations of public education." They called for improvements to laws and systems, including immediate amendments to the Child Welfare Act and the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes.

In particular, the three teachers' organizations made public 50 recently received cases involving false child abuse reports.

Among the cases were a teacher accused of child abuse after guiding a student who was folding a paper airplane during a performance assessment, and a teacher reported for child abuse after grabbing the arm of a student who had run out of the cafeteria and was trying to dash through the school gate.

They also presented cases in which teachers were reported for child abuse after instructing students to pick up trash in the classroom or encouraging an absent student to come to school.

The three teachers' organizations said, "Even when an investigation concludes that there is no wrongdoing, it is difficult to undo the investigations and questioning a teacher has endured or restore the teacher's disrupted daily life. Protect legitimate educational activities from the threat of child abuse reports."

Song Suyeon, head of the KTUF, asked, "When teachers bear the shame and endure police questioning and legal battles, and when they give up on teaching students properly because they fear retaliatory or false child abuse reports, what has the state done?"

KFTA President Kang Juho also said, "Will we not correct this abnormal situation in which a student assaults a teacher, yet the teacher is branded as the perpetrator of child abuse?" He added, "How can teachers teach children with conviction when they are left defenseless against lawsuits, accusations, and malicious complaints?"

Criticism also continued over the process of implementing education policies. Teachers' organizations argued that plans to reform local education grants, integrate early childhood care and education, have lower elementary school students finish classes at 3 p.m., and expand written and essay-based assessments were being pursued without gathering input from those in the field.

Park Younghwan, head of the KTU, criticized the plans, saying, "Education has been frozen by child abuse reports and malicious complaints. Reforms to local education grants, the integration of early childhood care and education, a 3 p.m. dismissal policy for elementary school students, and the premature introduction of written and essay-based questions on the College Scholastic Ability Test could undermine the foundations of public education."

At the rally, they presented six key demands: ▲amend the Child Welfare Act; ▲guarantee teachers' basic political rights; ▲oppose reform of education financing; ▲scrap discussions on integrating early childhood care and education; ▲halt plans for 3 p.m. dismissal for lower-grade elementary school students; and ▲oppose the rushed introduction of written and essay-based assessments.

The three teachers' organizations said, "We will continue to stand united to ensure that the demands voiced by teachers nationwide are realized through laws and systems. We ask society, the public, the government, and political circles for their cooperation and support in creating an environment where teachers can devote themselves solely to education."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.