Verbal assault is the most common form of school violence in South Korea, according to the Education Ministry’s recently published survey.
At least 37,000 elementary, middle and high school students are exposed to various forms of violence and verbal attacks during their school life, the survey showed Tuesday, which was conducted from last October to April this year by the ministry amongst 4.19 million, or 94.9 percent of students nationwide.
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Of the victims, 34.1 percent said they were subjected to verbal violence from their classmates, followed by bullying at 16.6 percent, stalking at 12.3 percent and physical abuse at 11.7 percent, the survey showed.
In most cases, acts of violence occurred inside the classroom, with 28.9 percent of the victims surveyed by the ministry saying that they were subjected to physical or verbal assault in the classroom. Classrooms were followed by corridors, and school yards.
The overall number of victimized students saw a 78.5 percent decrease from the same period in 2012, when 172,000 respondents said they fell victim to school violence.
Last year, the figure was 39,000, which also decreased 5.1 percent to 37,000 this year.
“The stabilizing rate of school violence here attributes to spreading awareness and understanding of school violence issues across society, and joint efforts by the schools and related ministry departments to curb it,” said the ministry’s official.
The survey is prepared annually by the Education Ministry and superintendents from 17 cities and provinces across the country, as part of the government’s plan to prevent violence and bullying in schools.
By Bak Se-hwan (sh@heraldcorp.com)