School Violence: 'Verbal Abuse' and 'Group Bullying' Are the Most Prevalent

Gyeongnam Provincial Office of Education Announces Results of the '2020 School Violence Survey'

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kang Sharon] The Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education announced the results of the '2020 School Violence Survey' jointly conducted by city and provincial offices of education nationwide.

Compared to the 2019 survey, the victim response rate (0.9%) decreased by 0.6 percentage points. This is analyzed as a result reflecting the situation of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

The types of school violence victims experienced were verbal violence (34.8%), group bullying (24.4%), cyber violence (11.6%), physical assault (8.8%), stalking (6.5%), extortion (6.1%), coercion (4.3%), and sexual violence (3.5%), in that order.

The locations of victimization were inside the classroom (35.1%), hallways (11.3%), cyberspace (8.2%), cafeterias and school stores (7.8%), among others.

The times when victimization occurred were during break time (40.3%), lunch time (14.5%), after school (14.4%), and others (10.5%), in that order.

The targets to whom school violence was reported were family members (42.4%), school teachers (25.1%), friends or seniors/juniors (8.5%), among others.

Regarding responses to witnessing school violence, 53.9% said they would inform those around them, 35.9% said they would ask for help or assist, and 10.2% said they would intervene, indicating that most respondents would actively provide help.

This survey was commissioned by the Gyeongnam Office of Education to the Korea Educational Development Institute and conducted online from September to October, with a total of 210,860 students from 995 schools participating, ranging from 4th grade elementary to 2nd grade high school.

The Office of Education plans to analyze these results in detail and use them to strengthen prevention activities.

In particular, to prevent the increasing proportion of verbal violence and group bullying, student-led preventive education such as language culture improvement campaigns and using honorifics will be reinforced.

Considering that overall school violence occurs inside schools, the role of responsible teachers will be strengthened, and infrastructure for prevention such as expanding CCTV in vulnerable areas within schools will be enhanced.