Japanese school ignores bullying, student misses school for 14 months

Sunday, May 7, 2023 08:51 (GMT+7)
08:51 5/7/2023

An eighth-grader in Japan was bullied so much that he had to miss school for 14 months, but it wasn't until he graduated that the school considered the bullying a serious situation.

A male student in Japan was bullied to the point of having to drop out of school. Photo: Korea Herald .

In 2021, an eighth-grader in Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture (Japan) was bullied to the point of having to miss 14 months of school. He had to stay home until graduation, but the school still did not consider this a serious situation.

It was not until April 2023 that the school officially recognized the severity of the bullying, according to Mainichi Shimbun.

In Japan, the Ministry of Education's guidelines state that if a student is absent for a "considerable period of time" due to bullying, the situation will be considered serious and an investigation will be required.

The department defines a “substantial period” as 30 days in a school year. If the school believes the bullying is serious, it should promptly establish an investigation team to review the situation and confirm the facts.

The school's lack of compliance with the Ministry of Education's guidelines has led many to suspect that the school is not following them. The school has now formed a third-party committee to conduct an investigation.

Although the Japanese Ministry of Education has stipulated that children who miss 30 days of school due to bullying must be investigated, the school in Tokorozawa City has not taken any action during the 14 months the students were absent.

The student’s father said that in the first semester of 2022, his son was bullied, beaten, and had his textbooks stolen by classmates. From February 2021, he was unable to attend school for fear of being bullied by his classmates. He continued to miss school until his graduation in March 2022.

The father learned about the Ministry of Education’s guidelines after an elementary school in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture, neglected to investigate bullying. On April 7, he contacted the Tokorozawa City Board of Education, asking whether his son’s bullying was considered a serious case.

According to information provided by the Tokorozawa Board of Education, the board recognized the student as being bullied in February 2021 after the school reported the incident. In March, the board was informed that the student had dropped out of school due to bullying.

In April, the board was told the boy had missed a total of more than 20 days of school by the end of March. He continued to miss school in April, but the board was told by the school that the bullying had been resolved and the school would support the child to return to school.

According to the Ministry of Education guidelines, schools must confirm that no bullying has occurred for three consecutive months before the bullying is considered resolved. When approached by the Mainichi Shimbun , the board of education admitted that the school may have misjudged the incident, leading to a failure to handle the situation in accordance with the ministry's guidelines.

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Japanese Bullying Students