One of the most read stories of the day was the news that violence had broken out in an elementary school classroom when a girl stood up for her classmate who was being bullied.
The girl, unable to watch her friend be taunted by classmates, stepped forward to defend her, only to be beaten up by three other children. The teacher returned to the classroom while the children were still fighting; however, he was unable to stop the ruckus.
Netizens have praised the girl’s bravery, while decrying the teacher’s incompetence, but the incident begs further questions over the issue of bullying in Japanese schools…
From Chunichi Shimbun:
Girl Who Tried To Protect Friend From Bullying Assaulted At Public Elementary School In Mikawa, Homeroom Teacher Unable To Restrain Children
Inside a 3rd-grade classroom of a public elementary school in the Mikawa region of Aichi Prefecture, a girl who was trying to protect a classmate from bullying was assaulted by three other classmates, and sustained injuries that took a week to heal. The homeroom teacher, a man in his twenties, was there at the time but was unable to retrain the children, and the school did not immediately contact the guardians of the children.
According to the school, it was on the afternoon of June 3, at around 2:45pm, during a break after fifth period that a disturbance broke out. Unable to watch her classmate be called names by numerous other children, the girl shouted, “If you want to bully someone, bully me!”, and then one girl and two boys called back “Well, if you say so”, and started assaulting her by punching her and kicking her.
At one point, two of the children held the girl down while the other jumped at her and kicked her.
The homeroom teacher came back for the sixth period class, and noticed the disturbance. He divided the children up and tried to stop them, but the violence continued right in front of the teacher’s eyes.
The homeroom teacher claimed that “there were no visible injuries, for example no one was bleeding”, and did not take the girl to the nurse’s office or call the pupils’ guardians. He did report the situation to the head of third grade, and after the school investigated, on June 5, the school explained the situation to the pupils’ guardians.
The school principal stated that “We felt that this was an issue with the management of the class, since the children did not obey their homeroom teacher’s instructions, and we looked at the situation as it was, without discussing it with the homeroom teacher. The homeroom teacher is inexperienced, and we don’t consider this to be a serious problem in where the accountability of the school is to be questioned. We are deeply sorry for the situation”.
The girl’s family were interviewed by the school and were visited at home, and had accepted apologies from the children who had attacked her. The girl started going back to school in late June. In order to prevent a recurrence of the situation, the vice principal and the supervisors of the school are giving lessons together with the homeroom teacher, in a two-person system.
Comments from Twitter:
ベルのパパ:
I’m in love with this girl. And I don’t mean like in a lolicon way.
つ トム €:
Recently the bullying problem is really serious!!
I’m worried for kids in the future.
魔法使的生活者:
At times like these, the adult has to break things up, even if that means knocking the kids doing the bullying aside. Being prepared for that kind of thing is what makes you a teacher.
sao kim:
Homeroom teacher…
小暮巌:
I respect the bravery of the girl who protected her friend, and I can hardly bear to think about how she must have felt when she was getting beaten up. Still, I can’t believe this. Did they want to hide the real situation of bullying? Or, did they expect trouble with the parents of the attacking students and back down?
玉藻前:
Homeroom teacher is incompetent.
かえるデザイン河村:
The girl who protected her friend from bullying.
She is a magnificent human being.
I hope that she grows up to be just like this.
To her classmate who was bullied.
You’ve made a true friend.
I want you to know that you have someone there who will help you out.
As for the children who bullied them…
村崎雅理:
What an amazing child. I guess her parents had really taught her the different between right and wrong. I bet they beat the discipline into her…
三樹夫:
The teacher is just a complete idiot.
おかき:
Let’s just get rid of the school.
カズ:
That homeroom teacher is just too incompetent, given that he was there but couldn’t stop them and stuff. I’m really doubt his suitability to teaching.
ryo3283:
If you can’t stop them then you’re just a spectator aren’t you? If I was the girl’s parent, I’d punch the lot of them, both those little fuckers and their teacher.(-_-)
T.iwa / 次はWF:
To think that even in a situation like this the teacher can’t hit the students…when the hell did students become customers?
野武士＠愛国無罪:
Isn’t it ridiculous that a homeroom teacher can’t calm a class of third grade elementary students! And let’s stop calling it “bullying”, it’s an “assault case”.
まさき:
The kid who protected her is amazingly brave. So cool.
Ninja Machiko:
What a pathetic adult!!
より子(元らいぶねす):
I managed to pass my school days without getting caught up in bullying, but if my kid got caught up in anything like this…I wouldn’t be able to stand it (>_<)
