By Yun Suh-young
Police, prosecutors and teachers are embroiled in escalating conflicts in the wake of successive questionings of teachers for neglecting their duties to prevent school violence.
Teachers’ groups are mounting their protest against the move to hold them responsible for violence and bullying at schools.
Following recent bookings of school teachers by the police for dereliction of duty, the prosecution also decided to actively command the investigation procedures.
The prosecution ordered the police to investigate whether the homeroom teacher of the student who committed suicide last November performed his duties properly, according to the Southern District Prosecutors’ Office and Yangcheon Police Station, Thursday.
The prosecution said they ordered the police to conduct the investigation to see whether the school took appropriate measures after the incident and to find out whether the teachers were neglecting their responsibilities.
The prosecution, however, said that it was up to the police to decide who to book or whether or not to take enforcement measures.
Teachers’ associations are upset about the move.
To protest the interrogation of teachers by the police, members of the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations (KFTA) and Seoul Federation of Teachers’ Associations (SFTA) visited the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Thursday.
Members of the teachers’ associations, headed by Ahn Yang-ok, president of KFTA, met with the head of the investigation department at the agency and a few other officials Thursday morning and discussed how the investigations are being conducted.
The members from the teachers’ associations told the police that it was wrong to put all the blame on teachers for the school violence and expressed concerns that it could demoralize the teachers as educators and prevent them from taking active roles to solve the problem.
At the police agency, president Ahn told reporters that “The cause and effect of school violence are attributed to both students and their families as well as the teachers. Teachers shouldn’t be the only ones taking the blame for the situation.”
He said police conducting an investigation on teachers whenever a parent requests won’t ultimately root out school violence. “Teachers and the police should cooperate to take care of the issue,” he said.