(123rf)
A teacher who was accused on charges of child abuse after scolding students has been ruled not guilty, according to news reports on Sunday, quoting the court's ruling.
A homeroom teacher in his 40s, who works at an elementary school in Ulsan, was accused of child abuse for scolding some students.
The teacher scolded a student who talked during class by making him stand in front of the class and asked other students what the student had done wrong.
Additionally, when the student asked if he could leave school five minutes earlier than the end of the regular class, saying he would be late for a private class, the teacher made him clean the classroom alone as a punishment.
The teacher also scolded another student who got into a fight with other classmates, saying, "I want to hit you guys with a bat when you do not listen to me. Do (your parents) just let you misbehave like this?"
The teacher was charged with emotionally abusing five students 15 times, from March to August 2021.
The Ulsan District Court, however, judged that the teacher's words and actions cannot be regarded as child abuse. As a homeroom teacher, the defendant tried to educate and correct some students’ misbehavior, the court explained.
Some student who were reprimanded showed problematic behaviors, such as stabbing another student’s arm with a pencil, and it had been reported to the teacher by parents. The court saw that the defendant had to scold his students to prevent a recurrence.
"Considering the conversations and texts between the teacher and parents, it seems that the defendant has sincerely tried to educate the students and actively communicated with the parents. Just because some disciplinary actions were not educationally desirable or somewhat excessive, it cannot be evaluated as 'intentional emotional abuse on children,’” the court determined.
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