Student’s father hurts himself in front of teachers

By Yun Suh-young

The father of a student hurt himself in front of teachers at an elementary school in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province last Tuesday, while protesting the school’s handling of his daughter, local police said Sunday.

The commotion began when the father visited the school to complain about a teacher who had reprimanded his daughter. The father held up a chair threatening to throw it at the teacher. He then picked up a tape dispenser and instead managed to cut his forehead with it, said the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency.

The father later apologized to the school.

According to the school, his sixth-grade daughter had been scolded for her haughty attitude toward the teacher while seeking his counsel about a commotion she caused with fifth graders.

The daughter then called her father crying, and the father, who got angry at the teacher for making the child cry, came to the school and threatened to hurt the teacher.

Staff tried to calm him down but a commotion broke out in the process. The father, failing to control his temper, hurt his forehead with the cutting edge of a tape dispenser, drawing blood.

About 10 teachers and school officials were present at the scene but failed to prevent the disturbance. The police had to be called.

The school also reported the case to the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education.

“We decided to resolve the issue by accepting an apology from the parent although this is a clear violation of teachers’ authority. We were concerned that the matter would become worse if we brought the issue up,” a school official said.

This is the second time in two weeks that a teacher’s authority has been challenged in Gwangju.

Last month, in the same city, a middle school student seized her female teacher by the hair while being admonished. The teacher is being hospitalized for injuries she received during the fight.