Parents "School Violated 'Duty of Care for Safety'"
School "Students Who Heard the Same Lecture Have Returned to School"
A Japanese high school student was found cheating during an exam and subsequently took his own life. The parents have filed a lawsuit worth 100 million yen (approximately 879 million KRW), claiming the school violated its duty of care for safety.
According to the Mainichi Shimbun on the 22nd, student A (then 17 years old), who attended a private high school in Tennoji Ward, Osaka City, was caught cheating during the final exam in December 2021.
Students waiting for the start of the exam on the day of the College Scholastic Ability Test. Stock photo unrelated to the article. [Image source=Asia Economy]
After being reprimanded by several teachers, A received a score of zero in all subjects. In addition, he was punished with "8 days of house confinement," "copying 80 pages of the sutra," and "writing a reflection letter."
Two days later, A was found dead by suicide near his home. In his suicide note, he wrote, "I became afraid of living while being regarded as a coward by those around me."
A’s parents stated, "Cheating is a violation of rules, and it is natural for the school to provide guidance and reprimands," but they filed a lawsuit claiming the school violated its duty of care for safety.
They argued that teachers calling students who cheat "cowards" psychologically pressured their child.
A’s parents claimed, "The vice principal of this school regularly gave moral talks during morning assemblies, saying 'Cheating is something a coward does,' which may have influenced the death. After the cheating was discovered, a teacher who saw the reflection letter written by the student also gave a moral talk about 'cowards' and urged the student to copy it if necessary. Such actions likely caused despair, making the student feel he had no choice but to live being labeled a coward."
The parents’ legal representative emphasized, "Since children interpret words differently, the school should have considered the impact of their words."
On the other hand, a third-party committee established by the school denied a causal relationship between the guidance and the suicide. While the moral talk about "cowards" may have partially influenced the death, multiple students who heard the same talk and were punished for cheating have since returned to school and are living their lives, making it difficult to conclude that such talks drove the student to suicide.
However, the school stated, "We will be careful with our words and actions when guiding students to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future."
※If you or someone around you is struggling with difficult feelings such as depression, you can receive expert counseling 24 hours a day by calling the suicide prevention hotline ☎109.
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