Cyber bullying, verbal abuse most common types of school violence: gov't report

By Bahk Eun-ji

Verbal abuse and cyber bullying are increasing among students while physical violence is on the decline, a government survey showed Tuesday.

Verbal abuse, cyberbullying and collective abuse have become more prevalent in schools, the education ministry said Tuesday. /gettyimagesbank

The Ministry of Education announced results of a survey conducted in April of all the country's 4.1 million students from fourth grade to high schools across the country.

According to the annual report, around 60,000, or 1.6 percent of the respondents, said they were victims of school violence, which encompasses many forms of physical, psychological and sexual abuse. The number has been on the rise in recent years ― 0.9 percent in 2017 and 1.3 percent in 2018.

By grade, 3.6 percent of elementary schoolchildren said they suffered from school violence, the largest number compared to middle schoolers' 0.8 percent and high schoolers' 0.4 percent. The percentage of elementary school students was also an increase from last year's 2.8 percent.

The ministry said the rates of school violence have grown due to an increase in “emotional violence” such as verbal abuse, collective abuse and cyberbullying, while physical violence was rather decreasing.

Verbal abuse accounted for 35.6 percent of school violence cases.

There were about three to four victims of collective abuse per 1,000 students since 2013, but it grew to 5.3 this year. Collective abuse cases including spreading malicious rumors, intimidation and ostracization also took up 23.2 percent of total school violence cases.

Thirteen percent of middle and high school students said they experienced cyberbullying, a higher proportion than the 7.3 percent at primary schools.

“About 41 percent of students suffering from collective abuse also experienced verbal abuse, and 14.7 percent of such students experienced cyberbullying,” the ministry report showed. “Collective abuse often leads to other types of school violence.”

Physical violence accounted for 8.6 percent of the total cases.

The perpetrators were mostly classmates, 48.7 percent, followed by students of other classes in the same grade at 30.1 percent.

The classroom is the most common place where violence happens, with 30.6 percent of the cases taking place there. More than 34 percent of school violence cases took place during break time, 17.7 percent during lunch, 14.1 percent after school and 8.1 percent during class.

Among the respondents, 0.6 percent said they were perpetrators of school violence. Most elementary schoolchildren gave the reason that the victims bullied them first; middle schoolers said it was just for fun among classmates; and high schoolers said it was because they did not like the victims.

Four percent of the students have witnessed cases of school violence, and around 30 percent of them just ignored it.

Based on the survey results, the education ministry will come up with comprehensive countermeasures against school violence by the end of this year.