Tokyo, 12 March, /AJMEDIA/
TOKYO — To quickly identify and deal with suspected serious bullying, Japan’s education ministry on March 10 ordered education boards across the country to quickly report strong signs that a child is being bullied.
Long absences from school, suicide and other grave conditions, which are suspected to have been caused by bullying, are deemed “serious incidents” under the country’s bullying prevention law. Education boards are expected to set up third-party committees to investigate these incidents. However, in many cases these inquiries have been delayed or parents have expressed dissatisfaction with the results.
The ministry notice to education boards and other parties asks educational facilities to promptly send in an incident outline and information about the students involved. The directive is effective from the beginning in April, the start of the Japanese school year. The ministry intends to offer advice on investigations, and has indicated that it will work alongside the Children and Families Agency, a new bureaucratic body which launches next fiscal year.
According to the education ministry, there were a record 615,351 bullying incidents at Japan’s primary, junior and senior high schools in the 2021 academic year. The number deemed “serious incidents,” involving long absences or suspected of causing major physical or mental harm, rose to 705.
