Half of students experience violence at school

By Kim Tae-jong

About one of every two teenagers here experience violence at school and many of the victims consider committing suicide as a result, researchers said Friday.

According to a survey of 1,400 middle and high school students in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, co-conducted last year by Kim Jae-yup, professor at Yonsei University, and Lee Geun-young, researcher at Yonesi Social Welfare Research Center, there is a strong correlation between bullying and rising suicides by youngsters.

About 48 percent of the students said they experienced school violence in the past year, and 42.3 percent said they considered committing suicide in the past week.

“The more often students fall victim to violence, the more vulnerable they become to suicide,” the team said in a press release.

“We concluded that school violence is the main and direct stress factor that can lead a student to think of committing suicide. Therefore, it is important to take immediate measures to help victims of school violence,” the team said.

The researchers also suggested that depression is more likely to lead students to think of suicide when they are dependent on drinking to relieve stress.

The report comes amid growing concerns about rampant violence at schools.

Heads of four major government bodies in Seoul agreed Friday to set up a committee to discuss joint measures to deal with the problem, following a pair of suicides by middle school students because they were bullied.

They are Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon; Her Kwang-tae, chairman of the Seoul Metropolitan Council; Lee Kang-deok, commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency; and Lee Dae-young, acting superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

They agreed to take immediate and long-term countermeasures to tackle bullying.

Some of proposed plans include a launch of a special police squad called “school police,” to inspect schools to help victims of violence and campaigns to prevent brutality at schools.