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Local education authorities said Tuesday that a group of students at an elementary school in North Gyeongsang Province has been refusing classes for days in support of their teacher who has been feuding with a parent.
The 23 students in the provincial city of Chilgok refused to attend class from July 16 to the commencement of summer break on July 19, according to the Gyeongbuk Office of Education. The parents of the students said they will not attend second-semester classes until the children's homeroom teacher has been fully reinstated.
It was reported that the parent of one student had been upset with the teacher over their child's treatment and demanded the school to assign a new homeroom teacher. No disciplinary action has been enforced on the teacher, who has been on sick leave since July 8.
The 23 students and their parents told the school that they did not want the teacher to be replaced. The school principal has filed the students' absence as home study, not truancy.
An official of the GOE said the teacher tried to mediate the situation, and the school requested the education office's intervention on July 15.
There have been several disagreements between teachers and parents in South Korea, although rarely have they involved other students openly expressing support for one side. Last week, it was revealed that a Seoul teacher had been accused of child abuse by a disgruntled parent, several months after the parent in question sent a threatening letter regarding the teacher's daughter.
