The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced Friday that it received more than 34,000 calls on its school violence hotline between January and July this year, skyrocketing from a total of 280 calls last year.

The dramatic surge in school violence reports came after the government introduced in January a “117” hotline call center, which receives reports on school violence from students and parents and links them to support centers and the police.

Seven months after its launch, a total of 34,968 school violence cases were reported through the hotline service, the ministry said. In January, the number of calls stood at 616, but soon jumped to 2,386 in March and 6,400 in May, data showed.

The ministry noted that, in particular, the number of reports from students has been on the rise. Students comprised of 69.8 percent of the calls in May, up from 27.8 percent in January.

(596story@heraldcorp.com)