Violence persists in primary schools

A significant number of primary school students are exposed to violence, including sexual abuse, according to ChildFund Korea yesterday.

Among the 335 primary school students who participated in the Assault Prevention workshop in September-December last year and asked for professional consultation, 41 or 12.2 percent had experienced intense violence at school, said officials.

Thirty five cases involved bullying and six sexual assaults.

Also, the survey conducted on the 1,609 workshop participants showed that some 30 students or 1.9 percent had experienced sexual abuse, said officials.

A large number of violence cases were committed by peers or slightly elder students.

"Most involve senior students bullying the juniors," said a ChildFund official.

"Even among peers, students who are physically superior tend to intimidate the smaller, weaker ones."

Some of the young victims only realized by participating in the workshop that such practicies of violence should not be kept secret, said officials.

"Children are easily driven by the aggressor`s threats to remain silent about the violence," said the official.

Sexual abuse also made up a great portion of the reported cases.



Many cases of sexual abuse against children tend to be committed by adults acquainted with the child, such as family members or neighbors, said the official. In some cases, the sexual harasser turns out to be a teenager, only slightly older than the victim.

Last year`s workshop was held amid the scandal of a brutal child rape incident, known as the Cho Doo-soon case, involving an ex-convict raping and disabling an 8-year-old girl.

Also, the nation was shaken last month over the violent graduation ceremonies in some middle schools, where seniors inflicted serious physical violence or sexual harassment, claiming it to be a school tradition.

President Lee Myung-bak spoke out on both issues, urging officials to permanently put an end to physical or sexual violence against children and teenagers.



(tellme@heraldm.com)







By Bae Hyun-jung