The government announced a wide range of measures against school violence Monday, focused on united tough action by all members of society.

The measures called for strengthening the role of teachers and headmasters in resolving school violence, zero-tolerance towards bullying and more protection of and care for victims, as well as expanding character education at every school age.

“Every member of society including teachers, schools, parents and the government should act actively in order to eradicate school violence. The government is determined to wipe out school violence this time once and for all,” said Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik at a news briefing on the government-wide school violence measures.

President Lee Myung-bak on his official tour in the Middle East also stressed the government’s anti-school violence initiative in a radio speech on Monday morning.

“Fearing retaliation from their perpetrators, victims could not even tell their teachers or parents. They let their suffering worsen without telling anyone else; some students even committed suicide,” said Lee. “Now is high time for us all to join forces and take action to protect our children from school violence.”

The anti-school violence measures were drawn up after a string of suicides by middle school students occurred from last December.

Kim stressed the role of teachers in resolving school violence as they are closest to students.

The government decided to designate two teachers to take responsibility for student conduct guidance in a classroom with over 30 students. The designation system will be applied to middle schools starting this year and to high schools next year.

It will also impose stricter punishment on perpetrators of school violence and allow intervention by police in the wake of violent physical incidents.

“We are sending a clear message that violent behavior is a crime that will not be tolerated on school grounds,” said Education Minister Lee Ju-ho.

The ministry plans to develop a school gang alert system in a bid to detect violent behavior in advance before disputes and fights escalate into more severe cases, and to allow police intervention in disbanding them.

“The existence of school gangs, most of the time at the center of school violence, are hard to notice, but we are going to find them out, based on their different types of behavior,” said Lee.

For victims, more protection measures are proposed.

Victims can be escorted to school or back to home by a police officer if they request in the wake of school violence. They will not be compelled to transfer to other schools any more, although most of them did before just to avoid their bullies at school, according to officials.

They will not face their bullies in the future as well. 

Perpetrators will be prohibited from attending the same schools where victims are to advance, according to the measure.

The government will increase sports activities as well as arts and other extracurricular activities in order to conduct character education and help students channel their energy into constructive learning and activities.

“We will emphasize character education in all educational activities from kindergarten to high school,” Prime Minister Kim said.

But two teacher’s groups showed mixed responses.

The conservative Korea Federation of Teachers’ Association welcomed the government’s measures, especially in the sense that they give more rights and authority to teachers regarding student guidance. But the progressive Korea Teachers and Education Workers’ Union expressed “disappointment,” especially over the disciplinary actions for perpetrators.

“It should be done with care and the measure should have focused on creating a healthy school culture rather than exerting punishment on students,” said KTEW in its press release.

The KFTA also called for consistency and effective application of the measures in the school community and said how it would be implemented would decide its success.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)