The Korean Teachers’ Union (KTU) has commented on the impact of the Netflix drama “True Education,” which has been creating significant waves both inside and outside the education sector since its release on June 5th. They urged the government and political circles to actively work on improving systems for protecting teachers’ rights.
According to the educational community, the KTU’s statement on June 8th regarding the drama emphasized that its resonance lies in the current state of classrooms. They stated that the drama, which depicts extreme situations of classroom collapse and the decline of teachers’ authority, resonates with educators as it highlights protective systems, such as the ‘Teacher Protection Bureau’ within the Ministry of Education and the proactive role of a fictional education minister.
Despite the on-screen narrative, the KTU pointed out that the reality for educators remains challenging, stressing that what teachers need isn’t a fictional hero, but practical legal systems that allow them to teach confidently under legal protection, alongside a real-world minister’s will and actions.
The KTU called for awareness of several key messages from the drama: the reality of classrooms being more precarious than in the past, the need for systemic solutions rather than relying on individual teachers’ perseverance and sacrifice, and the necessity of strong resolve and support from the National Assembly, government, education authorities, students, and parents in promoting and implementing measures to protect teachers’ rights.
Furthermore, the KTU outlined several concrete measures for strengthening teacher rights protection, urging the government and National Assembly to act swiftly. These include the state responsibility system for educational activity-related lawsuits, the obligation for education offices to counter-sue malicious complaints, recording serious breaches of teachers’ rights in student records, amending the Child Welfare Act to clarify vague emotional abuse clauses, not prosecuting child abuse cases found baseless by police, institutionalizing the response system to malicious complaints, transferring this to educational support offices, and creating legal grounds to reinforce parents’ educational responsibilities.