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| White flowers of condolence are placed on the desk of the teacher who recently took her own life after suffering from malicious parental complaints at her elementary school in Daejeon, Saturday. Yonhap |
By Lee Hae-rin
Save the Children, an international non-governmental organization (NGO), is facing fallout from the recent death of a teacher as it was found to have given an opinion favoring parents, who are now coming under heavy criticism for allegedly causing the teacher to kill herself by placing insurmountable pressure on her.
The teacher, a woman in her 40s, died at a Daejeon hospital, Thursday, after being found unconscious following an apparent suicide attempt at her home in Daejeon two days earlier.
Parents accused the teacher of child abuse in 2019 but an investigation under the local office of education cleared her of the charges. Some parents filed a further complaint to the police claiming the teacher had abused their children. Save the Children investigated the case and described it as emotional abuse.
As a result, the teacher went through 10 months of police and prosecution investigations before the case was dismissed. In July, she reported her case in a teachers union's survey on violations of teachers' rights.
According to the local teachers' union, the teacher sponsored the international NGO dedicated to protecting children's rights with 30,000 won ($22) every month since 2011.
The revelation enraged some online, leading to an online movement calling for supporters to withdraw sponsorship of the organization, especially within online communities where parents exchange childcare tips.
The teachers' union of Daejeon also saw many of its members canceling their sponsorship of Save the Children, while some called for boycotting the organization's events and programs, the group said.
According to Save the Children, a local child abuse investigation agency affiliated with the NGO followed due procedure in conducting its field investigations, interviewing students, parents, teachers and class members involved upon request from the police in November 2019.
The group's report stated that "the children have psychological difficulties and need counseling and treatment" and as a result, the affected students were given counseling and treatment while the teacher received behavioral education, a Save the Children official told The Korea Times, Monday.
The group refused to reveal the report's details on how the investigation concluded that the teacher emotionally abused her students and how many sponsorships were canceled in the aftermath.
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| Sticky notes that criticize a group of parents for harassing a teacher with malicious complaints, resulting in her suicide, are placed on the window of a restaurant run by one of the parents in Daejeon, Sept. 9. Yonhap |
Meanwhile, the parents who are known to have plagued the teacher with malicious complaints are facing public outrage.
A restaurant and hair salon revealed to be run by some of the complainant parents have been flooded with online comments and post-it notes on their websites and physical establishments that call them "murderers" and criticize them for harassing the teacher.
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