Number of students claiming to have suffered school violence at 10-year high

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The number of elementary, middle and high school students claiming to have suffered school violence rose to a 10-year high in the latest annual survey, the Ministry of Education said, Thursday.

The figure reached 1.9 percent in the survey conducted from April 10 to May 10 by the ministry and 16 regional education offices across the country.

The data increased by 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier and reached the highest level in 10 years since the 2.2 percent recorded in 2013.

More than 3 million elementary, middle and high school students participated in the online survey of school violence between the second semester last year and the time of the survey. The second semester in Korea usually begins in August or September.

The number of school violence victims hit a 10-year low at 0.9 percent in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw decreases in face-to-face classes. But the figure has since continued to increase for three consecutive years, according to the education ministry.

In the latest survey, the highest rate of school violence victims came from elementary schools at 3.9 percent, followed by 1.3 percent in middle schools and 0.4 percent in high schools.

By type of violence, verbal violence experiences were the most common at 37.1 percent, followed by physical violence at 17.3 percent and bullying at 15.1 percent.

Notably, physical violence increased by 2.7 percentage points from a year earlier. On the other hand, cyberbullying experiences, which have consistently increased in previous years, decreased by 2.7 percentage points during the same period.

“Since situations related to the COVID-19 pandemic improved last year, more schools have resumed face-to-face classes, and this resulted in the increase in physical violence experiences rather than cyberbullying,” a ministry official said.

As for the reason behind the increase in the entire number of abuse cases, the official said, “Sensitivity regarding the issue has become higher,” after series “The Glory” went to air, and the new chief of the National Office of Investigation, Chung Sun-sin, faced criticism over reports of his son's bullying of a fellow student and getting away with it when he was appointed to the position in February. This resulted in him stepping down the next day.

"The Glory," a Korean series released through Netflix on Dec. 30 last year, revolves around a woman who has suffered extreme school violence and takes elaborate and exact revenge on her tormentors.