"Handled at the Principal Level"... Nearly 130,000 Cases of School Violence

There Are 140,000 School Violence Perpetrators... Over 60% Resolved by School Principals Themselves
"Focus Should Be on Guaranteeing Victims' Right to Learn and Maintaining Peer Relationships"

[Asia Economy Reporters Jang Sehee and Yoo Byungdon] "The perpetrator student has not apologized since the school principal resolved the incident internally. We want to cancel the principal's internal resolution, but we are told that the School Violence Countermeasure Committee cannot be convened for the same issue."

The number of students victimized by school violence has approached 130,000 over the past five years. In particular, parents continue to be frustrated as appropriate follow-up measures such as apologies and separation of the victim and perpetrator have not been properly implemented. Critics point out that the low level of punishment for school violence and the failure of perpetrators to comply with even these measures exacerbate the harm.

◆130,000 Victims Over 5 Years= According to the Ministry of Education's 'School Violence Status Data' obtained by Asia Economy on the 3rd, the number of victim students identified by the School Violence Countermeasure Committees of each metropolitan and provincial office of education from 2018 to the first semester of last year totaled 128,033. During the same period, the number of perpetrator students was 142,117, exceeding the number of victims. By school level, middle schools accounted for 53.56% (68,570 students), high schools 24.68% (31,593 students), and elementary schools 21.19% (27,130 students).

The number of victim students was around 39,478 in 2018 and 40,411 in 2019, but due to reduced school attendance caused by COVID-19, it dropped to 13,425 in 2020. However, with the resumption of normal attendance, it increased to 20,682 in 2021 and showed a clear upward trend with 14,037 victims in just the first semester of last year.

By type of victimization, physical violence and extortion significantly decreased as face-to-face education declined, while cyber violence remained at a similar level. The number of physical violence cases was 17,948 in 2018 and 16,516 in 2019, but dropped to 5,168 in 2020 and 7,867 in 2021, a reduction of more than half. However, cyber violence cases only slightly decreased from 3,091 in 2019 to 2,577 in 2021.

As the proportion of cyber violence using social networking services (SNS) increased, recently there has been a sharp rise again in physical and verbal violence. Physical violence cases reached 6,311 in just the first semester of last year, approaching the total number for 2021. Verbal violence also increased significantly from 565 cases in 2020 and 1,389 in 2021 to 1,194 in the first semester of last year.

◆60% Resolved by Principal's Internal Resolution= From the second semester of 2019, when the principal's internal resolution system was introduced, to the first semester of last year, the number of school violence cases handled by principals totaled 78,574. This accounts for 62.6% of all school violence cases (125,589).

By academic year, the rates were 67.7% in 2020, 64.8% in 2021, and 67.8% in the first semester of last year. Meanwhile, the proportion of cases referred to the School Violence Countermeasure Committee was about 30% during the same period.

In the field, it is pointed out that schools or education offices often encourage the principal's internal resolution. Mr. A, an elementary school teacher with 40 years of service in Chungnam, said, "Even when reporting group bullying, there is a perception within the school that the problem should not be escalated as much as possible," adding, "After handling cases through the principal's internal resolution, it was common to encourage the perpetrator student to apologize."

If a reported school violence case meets the conditions for internal resolution and the victim agrees, the principal can resolve the case internally. Only if these conditions are not met is the committee convened.

The problem is that the committee cannot be convened for the same issue. According to Article 13-2 (Principal's Internal Resolution) of the Act on the Prevention and Countermeasures against School Violence, since the principal has closed the case internally, the committee cannot be convened for the same matter. Requests are only possible if the perpetrator promised to restore property damage but failed to do so, or if additional facts not confirmed during the investigation are newly discovered.

◆Perpetrator Written Apologies and Victim Protection Decrease= In the first semester of last year, minor measures such as written apologies and prohibitions on contact, threats, and retaliation accounted for 60% of actions taken against perpetrator students. During the same period, severe disciplinary actions included 483 transfers and only 18 expulsions. Currently, even if perpetrators commit school violence, they can avoid future disadvantages through conditional entries in their school records.

The School Violence Countermeasure Committee's disciplinary measures include written apology (No. 1), prohibition of contact with the victim (No. 2), school service (No. 3), community service (No. 4), psychological treatment (No. 5), suspension (No. 6), class transfer (No. 7), transfer to another school (No. 8), and expulsion (No. 9).

Protection of victim students is inadequate. Among 9,951 school violence cases in the first semester of last year, psychological counseling and advice were recommended in 7,172 cases (72%). In contrast, temporary protection and class transfers were recorded in only 322 and 94 cases, respectively.

Legislative researcher Heo Minsook of the National Assembly Legislative Research Office emphasized, "It is important to establish institutional measures so that decisions are made by an organization rather than by the principal's internal resolution," adding, "An environment should be created where victims can receive counseling from external experts and request protective measures with sufficient information." He further stressed, "The current school violence system reflects the convenience of perpetrators considerably. It needs to be designed focusing on victims, including their peer relationships and the protection of their right to learn."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education plans to prepare measures to eradicate school violence by the end of this month. The Ministry stated, "Due to recent incidents raising social concerns and the need for improvement, we will discuss these issues," and added, "We plan to prepare school violence eradication measures around the end of March."