10,000 Students in Seoul Report "Having Experienced School Violence"

Announcement of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Survey Results

It was revealed that about 10,000 students in Seoul have suffered from school violence.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 15th the results of the "2023 1st School Violence Survey (Complete Survey)" conducted online from April 10 to May 10 this year, targeting students from 4th grade in elementary school to 3rd grade in high school within the jurisdiction. The total number of students surveyed was 607,653, with a participation rate of 80.1% (486,729 students).

According to the results of this survey, the response rate for school violence victimization was 2.2% (10,724 students), an increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to 2.0% in 2022. Compared to the previous year, there was no change in elementary schools, while middle schools increased by 0.7 percentage points and high schools by 0.1 percentage points.

By type, 'verbal violence' was the most common at 37.7%, followed by 'physical violence (18.1%)' and 'group bullying (15.3%)'. As the school level increased, 'cyber violence' and 'group bullying' increased, whereas 'physical violence' and 'stalking (excessive approach behavior)' decreased.

The response rate for school violence perpetrators was 0.9% (4,391 students), an increase of 0.4 percentage points from 0.5% in 2022. Compared to the previous year, elementary schools increased by 0.8 percentage points, middle schools by 0.3 percentage points, and high schools remained the same. Among perpetrators, 'classmates' accounted for the largest share at 46.1%, followed by 'students from other classes (32.7%)' and 'students from other grades (6.8%)'.

The response rate for witnessing school violence was 5.5% (26,826 students), an increase of 1.0 percentage point from 4.5% in 2022. Compared to the previous year, elementary schools increased by 0.6 percentage points, middle schools by 2.3 percentage points, and high schools by 0.5 percentage points. The most common reaction when witnessing violence was 'comforting and helping the victim' at 35.0%, followed by 'reporting (17.6%)' and 'stopping the perpetrator (16.5%)'.

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said, “Based on the school violence survey, we will accurately grasp the trends of school violence and continue to make sustained efforts to create peaceful schools by thoroughly implementing the Sa-i(42) Good Relationship Dream Project.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.