On December 20, the Public Servant Disaster Compensation Pension Committee of the Ministry of Personnel Management will review the recognition of the late teacher of Munyeodo Elementary School as a line-of-duty death. The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) and the Jeonbuk Federation of Teachers and Education Workers Union (Jeonbuk KTU) strongly urged that the tragic death of the deceased should be recognized as a line-of-duty death ahead of the review.

According to the KTU, the deceased taught 29 hours a week in a small school with three classes, serving as the homeroom teacher for combined 4th and 6th grade classes. At the same time, she suffered severe mental stress while dealing with various heavy tasks such as school violence, information, and daily tasks. This situation was also confirmed in a police investigation.

A message saying, "Please save me, help me. I'm scared of all the future tasks," was found on the deceased's mobile phone, and her family also testified that she often expressed her difficulties, saying, "I don't have enough time to prepare for classes."

The KTU pointed out, "In small schools, three regular teachers have to take on all the tasks. The intensity of the deceased's work was murderous, given that the amount of work to be handled is similar regardless of the size of the school," and "The decision not to recognize the line-of-duty death ignores this uniqueness."

In fact, small schools have a high burden of weekly classes for teachers due to the lack of subject-dedicated teachers. However, in the previous review, the line-of-duty death was not recognized on the grounds that 'there is insufficient objective evidence that excessive work is continuous.'

The KTU repeatedly emphasized, "If such a death is not recognized as a line-of-duty death, what kind of death can be recognized as a line-of-duty death for teachers?" and "In order to restore the honor of the deceased and truly console her, she should be recognized as a line-of-duty death in this review."

In addition, the KTU urged, "The hardships faced by the deceased are the reality faced by teachers in small schools in rural, fishing, and remote areas across the country," and "The Ministry of Education and the Office of Education in each city and province should come up with special measures to reduce work and support classes to prevent the second and third sacrifices."

Meanwhile, the KTU also expressed its hope that "the procedure for recognizing the line-of-duty death will be carried out promptly" for a special education teacher in Incheon who recently gained fame.

It remains to be seen whether the results of this review will serve as an opportunity to improve the working environment of teachers in small schools and prevent sacrifices.