Seoul to launch inter-agency body against school violence

Chiefs of four major government organizations in Seoul agreed to launch a permanent consultative committee on Friday as part of recent government efforts to weed out school violence.

The anti-school violence efforts come after a string of suicides by school bullying victims that began last month.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, chairman of Seoul Metropolitan Council Hu Kwang-tai, acting superintendent of the city’s education office Lee Dae-young and commissioner of the police agency of the capital Lee Kang-deok held a breakfast meeting Friday morning to discuss countermeasures against school violence. 

Sharing the view that rooting out school violence should the top policy priority for the year ahead, they agreed to cooperate in devising both short and long term measures.

“We should draw up a long-term plan against school violence and begin our work from here today. By creating a permanent consultative organ, we can come up with constant and detailed measures,” said Hu, who presided over the meeting on Friday.

Hu stressed the need to create entertainment facilities for teenagers and space for them to spend time with friends.

Park called for fundamental changes in the current school system, under which fierce academic competition often drives student to violence.

“The schools need to change and teach students how to build relationships with others and how to cooperate with them,” Park said.

Seoul’s police chief pledged to counsel and guide troubled students through the dispatch of police officers to schools and the operation of crime prevention classes.

“If we fail to guide the troubled teenagers, they could become a source of bigger problems in our society,” Lee said.

A survey to 1,140 middle and high school students in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province found that 48 percent of them were victimized by school violence and 42.3 percent thought of committing suicide within the past week.

The research team of Yonsei University said the survey shows that school violence carries high risks and that it is important to find out students who suffer because of school violence in the early stages to prevent suicide.

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