With a carnation pinned to their lapels, teachers will hear students sing a song expressing gratitude for their teaching in schools across the country Tuesday, marking the 31st Teacher’s Day.

It is regrettable, however, that the actual relationship between teachers and students appears not so amicable these days.

In fact, it is getting so much worse that a growing number of teachers fall victim to violence from their own students.

In the latest case, a 51-year-old female teacher was hit on the head by a 14-year-old student while disciplining her for disregarding uniform rules at a girls’ middle school in Busan early this month.

Overwhelmed by psychological shock, the teacher lost consciousness after returning to her desk and was taken to hospital, though she managed to return to work the next day.

It becomes increasingly difficult and burdensome for teachers to deal with violent students with their authority limited by ordinances imposed by liberal educational superintendents to guarantee students’ rights.

Reflecting their predicament, a growing number of teachers have applied for early retirement.

According to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the number of applicants rose from 2,963 in 2009 to 3,660 in 2010 and 4,217 last year. For the first semester of this year, more than 3,500 teachers chose to leave school before their retirement age set at 62.

Regional education offices have exhausted budgets for payments to early retirees this year, prompting the government to issue bonds worth about 100 billion won ($87 million) to pay applicants in the second semester.

There may be concerns that the departure of experienced teachers could leave room hard to be filled by the remaining teachers.

More considerations are definitely needed to encourage teachers to stay on their job. But as many requests for retirement as possible should be accepted to prevent the inevitably loose attitude of teachers who have already left school mentally from negatively affecting their colleagues and students.

We can also expect newly recruited young teachers to instill a positive and fresh atmosphere into school with their passion and more effective teaching skills.

While sympathetic with teachers having difficulties dealing with some violent students, we believe Teacher’s Day should also serve as an occasion to remind them what they are supposed to devote themselves to and what their mind and attitude should be like.

A picture of about 30 students smoking in front of a high school auditorium, which was published in a local daily last month, caught readers’ eyes. What was more worrisome and even shocking was the fact that no teacher came up to stop them while they smoked freely for about 15 minutes.

It was a grave dereliction of duty, one that cannot be excused, that none of the 93 teachers in the school did what they should have done.

In the years when Koreans were struggling to get out of poverty by modernizing the economy, teachers were the subject of respect and affection, as in traditional society.

Hard work and low payment did little to damage the pride of teachers, many of whom did not regard themselves merely as wage earners but felt they were devoted to a sacred mission which could change the lives of their pupils for the better.

With Korea becoming affluent through rapid economic growth, payments for teachers have increased to overtake those of their counterparts in most other developed nations.

According to a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Korean middle school teacher with a 15-year career received an average of $52,699, based on purchasing power parity, in annual payment in 2009, far above the OECD average of $41,701.

The ratio of a teacher’s salary to per capita gross national income reached the world’s highest level at 1.95.

It is disappointing to see that improved treatment for teachers has not led them to more commitment to their work, but to the sort of inertia that has permeated simple waged jobs, shown in the case of students smoking in group unhindered by any teacher.

With society changing, teachers may not be expected to adhere to the same sense of calling as in the past, but we believe it should still be the pillar shoring up their job more than any other profession.

It might not be overstated to say that no students, even delinquent ones, would become violent against teachers who have taught and treated them in a consistent, objective and compassionate manner.