Hi
Here is what one teacher posted this summer about your school or the chain of schools that you now find yourself working for. May be you can picket the school like the teacher in this story did. Good luck and please keep us updated as to what you try and what do finally decide to do.

Posted By Changwon <chorongee2000@yahoo.com>
Date 24 June 2004

TO ALL AGENTS
TO ALL JOBSEEKERS

Agents dealing with TOPIA will be tracked down and blacklisted. Any agent who sends teachers to TOPIA, changwon, has definitely NOT CHECKED the school out in the least, nor has any qualms about getting you to sign a contract that violates korean labour laws.

I want to warn jobseekers about Topia English Zone, Changwon city, palyrong dong. The owner, Mr Kim, misleads prospective teachers about the conditions at his hakwon, then tells them once they start working.
First off, despite living 2 minutes away, you CANNOT LEAVE the hakwon for an 8 hour block. On days when you finish classes early, you must stay in the hakwon- NO USING THE INTERNET, NO READING THE PAPER- the director insists you do extra work, he calls 'preparation'.
They will offer the min- 1.9 or 2 million- and no overtime for any extra work. Anything extra that is not classtime is not considered overtime.
The owner is a nasty man who berates his Korean staff for taking too much time to eat food they ordered! We are talking taking 15 minutes to eat when he expects them to wolf it down in 10 and get back to 'work'.

The owner will REFUSE to release you from your contract- even if you give him ample time, i.e., a month, to find someone else. Recently, a disgruntled employee picketed the hakwon. Mr Kim called the police. Since when is standing on a sidewalk holding a sign in protest an offence? Mr Kim made efforts to have the guy deported. After picketing the institute and informing them he was going to call the police about them changing the locks on his apartment door, and calling parents, the hakwon finally signed the release letter out of fear. So folks, DONT TAKE CRAP. PICKET, conduct an internet campaign against the school, call students' parents...embarass and destroy the hakwon, then do the same to the agents that deal with the school.

As for the internet campaign, the teacher in question hasnt sent a single email nor posted anything negative related to TOPIA.

But I have...

TOPIA is a ROTTEN place to work. Topia contracts stipulate that YOU have to pay back the agents fee if you quit, they withold money from your pay illegally as a 'security' deposit. Since they figure most teachers want to leave, their contract is really a scheme to make it as damaging as possible to the teacher if they quit.