Im Tae-hee Preliminary Candidate "School Violence and Child Abuse Increase Every Year Since Lee Jae-jung Took Office as Superintendent"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Im Tae-hee, a conservative preliminary candidate for Gyeonggi Province Superintendent of Education, stated that the number of cases of 'school violence' and 'child abuse' significantly increased during the tenure of Gyeonggi Superintendent Lee Jae-jung, and pledged to work closely with the local community to address these issues.

On the 7th, through a press release, candidate Im Tae-hee said, "During the 2018 superintendent election, Lee Jae-jung pledged to realize peaceful schools by achieving zero school violence with the promise of 'prevention and eradication of school violence.' However, according to data received by Kang Deuk-gu, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Ministry of Education in October 2021 regarding the operation of the School Violence Countermeasure Autonomous Committee and the School Violence Countermeasure Deliberation Committee (Hakpokwi) and measures taken for perpetrators and victims, the number of Hakpokwi deliberations in the province has continuously increased: 4,198 cases in 2015, 5,481 in 2016, 7,329 in 2017, 7,833 in 2018, and 8,644 in 2019," he claimed.

Candidate Im further stated, "Although school violence is increasing in the province, countermeasures remain insufficient. According to data submitted by Yoon Young-duk, a member of the Democratic Party, from the National Police Agency in 2021 regarding the nationwide deployment status of School Police Officers (SPO), the deployment rate compared to the quota of SPOs in the province is 93.3% in southern Gyeonggi, 82.5% in northern Gyeonggi, averaging 90.4%, which is lower than the national average of 90.9%," he pointed out.

As measures to respond to school violence, he proposed ▲ simplifying procedures through prompt discussions with experts such as police officers and lawyers ▲ establishing and operating a permanent school violence prevention organization ▲ increasing the number of dedicated school violence lawyers and specialized counseling teachers ▲ establishing a real-time counseling system ▲ and establishing dormitory schools for students affected by school violence, similar to the 'Haemalgeum Center' in Daejeon.

Candidate Im also emphasized the need for appropriate countermeasures, noting that the number of child abuse reports in the province is more than four times higher compared to Seoul and Busan.

He stated, "Looking at the annual number of child abuse reports in the province, there were 8,387 cases in 2018, 9,977 in 2019, and 9,192 in 2020. In particular, the 9,977 cases in 2019 accounted for 25.9% of the nationwide total of 38,380 cases, which is 1.5 times that of Seoul (6,624 cases) and 4.3 times that of Busan (2,302 cases)," he explained.

As countermeasures for child abuse, candidate Im suggested establishing a cooperative system among homeroom and health teachers, school social workers, counseling teachers, and educational welfare officers, along with refurbishing outdated CCTV systems within schools.