A record of bullying to affect student university admissions
The measure will come into effect in 2026; meanwhile, school violence continues to grow. Prevention committees in schools are often ineffective. A recent study shows that cases drop with a caring approach that reduces competition.
Seoul (AsiaNews) – The South Korean government today announced that, starting in 2026, a record of bullying in school will reflect negatively on student university applications.
Disciplinary records of serious bullying cases will be retained for four years, twice as long as hitherto, putting violent students at a disadvantage in terms of employment.
Prime Minister Han Duck-so and his cabinet took this decision after the Presidential Office cancelled the appointment of Chung Sun-sin, as the new national investigation chief in February following revelations of his son's school bullying.
Bullying is widespread in South Korean schools, a problem highlighted by a recent Korean Netflix series titled The Glory”,
Based on a true story from 2006 in a girls' middle school in Cheongju, North Chungcheong province, the series relates the experience of an elementary school teacher who seeks revenge against former classmates who bullied her when she was a girl, subjecting her to vicious practices, like searing her bare skin with a hair straightener and scratching her chest with a safety pin.
The school put the bullies on a checklist but took no further action, while the victim was still traumatised many years later.
Although South Korea adopted the Special Act on School Violence Prevention in 2004, the problem persists. In fact, the number of bullying cases went from 11,749 in 2013 to 31,130 in 2019. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020, the number dropped, but rose again to over 15,000 in 2021.
About half of all reported cases involve physical violence, but verbal abuse has more than doubled in recent years.
In each school, bullying is dealt with by the school authorities, while the most serious cases are delegated to prevention committees, which are deemed ineffective since they are mostly composed of parents, teachers and government officials who often have no legal expertise.
"Many of the legal professionals don't even attend the committee meetings often because it is an unpaid position,” said Park Keun-byeong, president of Seoul School Teachers' Union, speaking to The Korea Times. "They are usually busy with their day jobs. Not to mention there are so few of them in each committee."
In Chung Sun-sin’s case, the prosecutor-turned-lawyer refused to admit his son's misconduct despite charges by his school's prevention committee, which ordered his transfer. Only after a Supreme Court ruling was Chung forced to acknowledge that his son had committed acts of bullying.
Committees’ lack of legal authority forces victims to take the matter to court. When this happens, as it did in the aforementioned case, the strategy of abusers’ families is to prolong the matter so that abusive actions are not recorded in the official school documents. As a result, victims and perpetrators often continue to attend the same class.
What is more, it is easy to find online by lawyers advertising their services to defend bullies in the courtroom.
Nevertheless, something can be done. Recently, a study involving 48 classes in Seoul found that teachers can create an anti-bullying climate by using a caring approach towards others and reducing competition among students.
The research shows that over an 18-week period, the number of cases of school bullying dropped; for researchers, focusing on the whole classroom rather than on single bullies is the most effective strategy.
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