By Kim Se-jeong
Seven out of 10 school teachers fear that their pictures printed in graduation albums could be used for crimes against them.
From elementary to high schools, photo albums are made every year as a gift for graduating students, including pictures of teachers and other school staff members, and it is a long school tradition.
In a survey conducted by a teachers' union in Seoul on 8,122 teachers across the country, 70.6 percent of respondents said they held such a concern. Female teachers were much more concerned than male colleagues and younger teachers were more worried than older teachers.
Among the respondents, 7.6 percent answered they witnessed their photos being circulated in Kakao group chats or on Naver forums for mothers.
“Of course, I am worried. It's not that I am too concerned to walk alone at night. But I am aware that I can be a victim of a crime because some people know my face and want to do something against me,” said one female middle-school teacher in her 50s from Seoul.
“I have a teacher friend in Gyeonggi Province. She has a school-age child and was invited to a group chat for parents. She told me that in that group chat she saw her colleague's picture being shared and other parents talking about the colleague's appearance. It happens more often than people imagine.”
She said it's frustrating to learn that her information is made public without her approval. “I don't know anything about them, but they know and talk about me.”
Asked about solutions, 51.6 percent of the teachers answered they'd like to see the graduation albums discontinued.
Another popular suggestion was to give teachers the freedom to be excluded from the albums.
“This makes sense. If a teacher doesn't want their picture to be printed in the graduation album, that opinion should be respected,” the teacher said.