Education Ministry considers redistributing at least 10 officials to create exclusive division to protect teachers' rights Actor Kim Moo-yul (right) who plays Na Hwa-jin in Netflix's hit series "Teach You a Lesson" introduces himself as a Teachers' Rights Protection Bureau official in the series' first episode. (Netflix Korea) Teachers’ groups voiced concern Sunday that the Education Ministry’s plan to create a new division dedicated to protecting teachers’ rights could end up as little more than a “makeshift solution without a control tower.”“It is meaningful that the Education Ministry has shown its commitment to protecting teachers’ rights,” the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations said in a statement. “However, merely creating a division-level organization or increasing manpower at existing teacher policy-related divisions is inadequate and may end up becoming a temporary or makeshift solution.”KFTA, one of the two largest teachers' groups in Korea, has maintained that a bureau-level government organization is needed to address this issue.The ministry told reporters Thursday that it was considering creating a team specializing in teachers’ rights protection.“We are looking at ways to strengthen organizational functions to support the stable establishment of complaint response systems at schools and to effectively push forward policies to protect educational activities,” the ministry said.Though the ministry did not directly draw parallels, the restructuring comes as Netflix's hit Korean series "Teach You a Lesson" — which follows the fictional Teachers’ Rights Protection Bureau — gained popularity both abroad and back home.Ministry pivots policyThe ministry had initially said it was not planning to create a bureau specializing in teachers’ rights, unlike the fictional Teachers’ Rights Protection Bureau in Netflix’s hit drama “Teach You a Lesson.”“The fictitious Teachers’ Rights Protection Bureau gives us a sense of satisfaction by solving problems through forceful methods, but in reality, educational problems must be resolved through respect, trust and cooperation, rather than punishment and confrontation,” Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin said during a meeting with parents on June 22.During a regular press briefing, a ministry official also told reporters that the ministry was “not reviewing the creation of a Teachers’ Rights Bureau.”However, the ministry later decided to push for a division-level body after “Teach You a Lesson” gained popularity and education superintendent-elects, including Gyeonggi’s Ahn Min-seok and North Jeolla’s Cheon Ho-seong, floated the possibility of creating similar organizations within local education offices.If the plan goes through, the division will be a dedicated team consisting of more than 10 officials currently in charge of teacher- and parent-related policies. They will strive to achieve the goal of centralizing teachers’ rights protection policies and parent complaint response systems under one division.South Korean ministries are organized into offices, bureaus, divisions and teams, in descending order of size. Bureaus usually oversee divisions and teams and are led by director generals, who are senior public officials. Divisions, by contrast, are led by directors.The ministry’s plan, therefore, would create an organization smaller than the fictional bureau portrayed in the Netflix series.Teachers’ groups say organization is too smallKFTA said the ministry’s current response to teachers’ rights violations faces limitations because related functions are decentralized, stressing that the new organization for teachers' rights should be a bureau-level body.“The creation of a division-level organization or the reinforcement of manpower at exisiting teacher policy-related divisions, which the Education Ministry is reviewing, is exceedingly inadequate to address the reality in which public education has collapsed,” the umbrella teachers’ group said.“The key to protecting teachers’ rights is establishing a protective system that connects prevention, early intervention, response, accountability and post-incident support into one system,” it said, adding that violations of teachers’ rights will only decrease when these steps operate organically as part of a single system.The group noted that issues such as the prevention of educational activity violations, responses to school violence and child abuse-related policies are scattered across different divisions, hindering comprehensive solutions.The group added that a bureau-level organization was needed centralize response and to serve as a “control tower.”“The Education Ministry should create a Teachers’ Rights Protection Bureau that guarantees state accountability through legal effectiveness, rather than settling for a temporary division-level reshuffle as window dressing,” KFTA President Kang Ju-ho said.