‘School violence policies ineffective’

Experts call for long-term measures involving the whole of society


Measures to deal with school violence have mostly been ineffective and short-sighted, the head of an anti-bullying group has said.

Recent school bullying-related suicides have attracted media attention and the government has once again proposed a set of measures and held a series of high-level and school-level meetings to devise new ways to prevent bullying.

But Kim Gun-chan, director of the School Violence Prevention Center, a civil group established in 1995 for school violence measures and prevention, expects their resolve to be short-lived.

“The government has proposed a variety of measures every time school violence happens for the last 16 years, but it hasn’t done much to resolve nor find out the causes of problems. I expect the whole issue regarding the bullied students’ suicides will start to subside next week as it always has,” said Kim.

School violence first came into the media spotlight in 1995 when a high school freshman in Seoul jumped to his death after being bullied.

The government at that time came up with similar proposals to the recent school violence prevention measures. Among them are setting up a joint team of government officials, experts and parents to tackle school violence, promoting campaigns to create safe environments for students and having local law enforcement officers patrol school areas.

Despite these measures, violence at schools has worsened. In 2001, a high school freshman in Busan killed his bully and in 2005, a total of 12 students died in school bullying-related incidents.

In 2005, the government launched a five-year program to tackle school violence, but it has not abated.

Experts have noted that the government has been too slow in forming policies, which have usually only addressed the superficial symptoms of the moment, without identifying and curing the cause of problems.

The inaugural joint advisory committee of government officials, parents and experts on school bullying was held Monday at the Education Ministry to discuss school violence.

Some of the measures discussed by the 22-member committee included lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12, making school transfers for bullies compulsory and leaving school bullying cases on student records to place them at a disadvantage in college admission.

National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Hyun-oh also vowed to take tougher measures against school violence.

“We will seek a new approach, which breaks from the perception that teenagers under the age 14 are too young to be penalized,” Cho told the press conference on Tuesday.

But experts stress that these proposals may end up as just one-time measures and even criminalize immature and careless adolescent students.

“Any measure against school bullying will be one-time unless schools conduct active anti-bullying programs and human rights education as a mandatory course and create an environment in which students and teachers can talk freely of school violence and discuss ways to prevent it in classrooms,” said Kim.

“How many students have to die before the government comes up with sincere and effective measures? School violence should not become a matter to be dealt with only by schools and students. It is an issue that the whole society should tackle together responsibly,” Kim added.

By Lee Woo-young
(wylee@heraldcorp.com)