Too sick to work, too scared to not: Kindergarten teacher death, illnesses highlight gaps in system
Published: 09 Apr. 2026, 07:00
Updated: 09 Apr. 2026, 09:55
![Members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union and the family of a kindergarten teacher who died recently after catching the flu hold a press conference outside the Blue House in central Seoul on March 30. [THE KOREAN TEACHERS AND EDUCATION WORKERS UNION]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/04/09/2894dbbe-e1da-4591-993c-0df76a428051.jpg)
Members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union and the family of a kindergarten teacher who died recently after catching the flu hold a press conference outside the Blue House in central Seoul on March 30. [THE KOREAN TEACHERS AND EDUCATION WORKERS UNION]
When a kindergarten teacher in Gyeonggi came down with the flu earlier in the year, recuperating wasn't the only concern — taking a day off meant finding a substitute and paying for it out of pocket.
“If you take sick leave without a substitute teacher, there is even a culture of handing out drinks to fellow teachers the next day as an apology, so you have to endure the pain and come to work,” the teacher told the JoongAng Ilbo. They ultimately continued working through the illness while wearing a mask.
Similar cases have emerged in private kindergartens across the country, where teachers are unable to take sick leave, fueling criticism that the substitute staffing system exists largely in name only.
The issue made headlines at the beginning of the year when a teacher at a kindergarten in Bucheon, Gyeonggi, died after continuing to work for three days following a diagnosis of Type B influenza.
She left work early only on the afternoon of Jan. 30, after symptoms worsened. She was later treated in an intensive care unit but died in mid-February.
In a bid to prevent similar cases, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union held a press conference on Monday, urging education authorities to revise the enforcement ordinance so that teachers are required to take sick leave when they contract a legally designated infectious disease.
"Behind such hard-to-believe and devastating incidents where teachers cannot take their time off even when they are sick is the structure of schools," the head of the union's Gyeonggi branch, Lee Jae-min, said during a press conference on Monday. "We need to change the reality faced by teachers who are left in institutional blind spots regardless of school level or whether they work at public or private schools."
In reality, the substitute staffing system to cover short-term absences, such as sudden sick leave for kindergarten teachers, varies widely by region.
Only five of the country’s 17 city and provincial education offices — Seoul, Busan, Ulsan, South Chungcheong and Jeju — provide financial support for substitute staff costs related to sick leave, according to the education community, as of Wednesday.
Eleven cities and provinces do not provide cost support for short-term sick leave of fewer than three days. Among them, five regions — Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, North Gyeongsang and South Gyeongsang — provide virtually no support when a kindergarten teacher is absent.
Even when kindergartens can receive financial support for substitute staffing, many are reluctant to use it because the procedures and requirements are cumbersome, said teachers.
“If a teacher suddenly cannot come in, the director has to personally call teachers they know and ask for help,” a director at a private kindergarten said. “For reimbursement, you have to submit an application form for each case and supporting documents afterward, which is inconvenient.”
In contrast, day care centers have a standing pool of substitute staff operated through child care support centers run by local governments.
When a teacher is absent, a substitute is dispatched from the pool.
In some regions, day care centers also employ one to four assistant teachers, depending on their size, and those assistants can take over some duties when no substitute teacher is available. The Ministry of Education also provides partial funding through city and provincial education offices.
Critics also point out that private kindergartens, unlike public ones, frequently hire teachers on one-year contracts, creating a structure in which teachers find it difficult to demand legitimate rights, such as sick leave, from directors.
“Small private kindergartens are especially reluctant to see teachers move up the pay scale because of labor costs,” a teacher working at a kindergarten in Seoul said. “As a result, many hire teachers on one-year contracts on the pretext that enrollment changes every year. That creates an atmosphere where teachers find it hard to speak up even when there is a problem because they fear disadvantages in the following year’s hiring.”
According to the government-run kindergarten information disclosure portal, 29 percent, or 11,684, of the country’s 40,430 kindergarten teachers have worked for less than one year. Kindergarten teachers argue that poor working conditions and heavy workloads make it difficult to stay in the job for the long term.
“There is a need to discuss institutional improvements, such as establishing a standing substitute staffing system, in order to guarantee teachers’ rights, including the right to take sick leave,” said Yoo Hae-mi, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education.
“We need to come up with measures so that teachers do not have to bear the burden of classes while they are on sick leave,” Minister of Education Choi Kyo-jin said at the National Assembly on April 1. “We will consult with city and provincial education offices nationwide and draw up workable measures.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
LEE BO-RAM [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)