Recently, broadcaster Lee Su-ji's "kindergarten teacher parody video" drew major attention and brought the poor working conditions of kindergarten and daycare teachers into the public eye. On the 15th, Democratic Party of Korea Seoul mayoral candidate Chong Won-o visited a daycare center in Seoul to hear about difficulties on the child care front lines.
That day, teachers said, "In reality, even when sick, we report that we will barely slip out to the hospital after coming to work, get an IV, and return to the center to carry out our duties."
Teacher A said, "Under current Seoul city guidelines, assistant teachers are given no allowances of any kind and have no authority." The teacher added, "Even if we increase substitute teacher staffing, there are limits unless the issue of assistant teachers with (teaching) certificates is resolved."
In response, candidate Chong said, "There must be a right to rest when sick," and added, "We will consider support in a direction that grants authority to assistant teachers."
Chong's camp said, "We will comprehensively review the operating system for assistant teachers and substitute personnel and examine improvement plans so as to substantially ease child care teachers' workloads."
Ko Min-jung, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker who joined the visit, also said, "If legal revisions are needed, we will proceed in the Education Committee."
They also said they would review support measures needed during the advance survey process for field trips.