South Korean teachers struggle with malicious complaints from overprotective parents

SEOUL – When 45-year-old Bang Kyeong-hwan’s son clinched first place among fourth graders while representing his school at a national swimming competition in 2025, he found the accomplishment deserving of recognition.

What his son was rewarded with at school, however, was a private, low-key ceremony between himself and his teacher. There was no classroom applause or cheers for the champion, although Mr Bang thought he deserved it.

“For kids growing up, there should be a culture of cheering for a classmate’s success, but now, these are things of bygone days,” Mr Bang told The Korea Herald, saying that a “new culture” has taken root.

“A recognition of how hard he or she tried to reach a certain goal is not just a reward, but a crucial element in a child’s growth.

“Otherwise, they would not be able to experience what it is like to achieve something.”

Teachers fear sanctions

Mr Bang’s case is just one example of how schools have come to avoid elements that could lead to complaints such as competitive sports, field trips and minor injuries in the schoolyard.

A December survey on 2,746 teachers by the Korean Federation of Teachers Unions showed that 51.9 per cent suffered from malicious complaints from parents in the second half of 2025.

While the number of complaints filed against teachers annually is not tracked, some claim teachers are exercising increased self-constraint in fear of sanctions against them as a result of what could often be frivolous yet malicious complaints from overly attentive parents.

Furthermore, protective measures for teachers remain elusive despite recent reinforcement through legislation.

In latest examples, more schools are forgoing field trips – something that has become more commonplace after a deadly incident in 2022 in which a child on a school trip died in a car accident – while some schools have banned students from playing any sports on school playgrounds.

According to data compiled by Representative Chun Ha-ram of the minor conservative Reform Party, the number of elementary schools in Seoul, Daejeon and Gyeonggi province sending students on day-long excursions has halved from 2025 to 2026.

Moreover, nearly 4 per cent of the 5,584 elementary schools outside of Seoul have officially banned students from engaging in any sports inside school.

Busan accounts for the largest share, with 34.7 per cent of its 303 elementary schools imposing such restrictions on playgrounds in 2026, followed by Incheon’s 9.3 per cent and Gyeonggi province’s 4.4 per cent.

The trend also reflects some parents’ disdain for South Korea’s hyper-competitive society.

Data from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education for its 605 elementary schools compiled by Seoul councillor Chae Su-ji of the People Power Party showed that only 14.5 per cent held awards ceremonies for students in front of classmates, meaning other schools either honoured students for their excellence privately or did not honour them at all.

Sixty per cent of elementary schools in Seoul either did not honour winners at their annual sports day, or skipped the event entirely.

Misguided concern

Experts say that some parents may have become overprotective and use complaints against teachers as tools to achieve their goals due to their experiences in Korea’s hyper-competitive society.

“(The parents’) goal is to prevent their children being worn down by such a competitive society, but it shouldn’t be achieved by trying to remove the possibility of failing,” Dankook University psychology professor Lim Myun-ho said, adding that children should learn how to cope with failure rather than be shielded from it.

He went on to say that because schools can be at a disadvantage when faced with complaints, solutions tend to be passive, such as forgoing sports days or ending such events in draws.

“(Sporting events orchestrated to end in draws) could have a negative impact, such as making people think that there is no need to compete. So, shielding children too much from competition, because of the competitive nature of (Korean) society is not a good way,” he said.

Lack of protective measures for teachers

Teachers facing excessive complaints and “gapjil”, or abuse of power, from parents, have been a social issue for some time. After the 2023 suicide of an elementary school teacher in Seocho-gu, Seoul, stirred public outcry, a handful of Bills were introduced.

Despite the set of rules introduced, the government struggles to contain frivolous administrative complaints or lawsuits that pose a threat to teachers, Mr Chun said in an inquiry to South Korean Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin at the National Assembly on April 13.

Mr Chun also called on the South Korean government to shoulder the legal burden of teachers handling the complaints, who had to deal with those burdens on their own.

Mr Choi responded: “We will bear in mind that ensuring our teachers’ peace of mind while conducting educational activities is key to our children’s growth in a proper way.”

Mr Choi added the government is working to introduce more laws to reinforce protective measures for teachers who take necessary precautions.

He said there is a long road to go, invoking a recent appellate court ruling in November that found a teacher guilty for failing to prevent a child from being killed in a car accident during a field trip in Sokcho, Gangwon province, in part because the teacher’s exemption clause is not clearly stated.

A revision to the Act on the Prevention of and Compensation for Accidents at School came into effect in June to exempt a teacher from civil and criminal accountability for a deadly incident involving his or her student in case teachers acted with due diligence.

“In fact, teachers tended to avoid these duties because they were held fully responsible for accidents that occurred while on field trips for students,” Mr Choi said. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK