Slogans cheering on students are posted on the central stairs at Junghwa Girls' High School in Suseong-gu, Daegu. The school holds the Junghwa Da: Happiness Stairs Slogan Contest and awards outstanding entries for slogans conveying messages such as school violence prevention, happiness and hope in school life, and cheering on friends. The photo is unrelated to the article./Courtesy of News1

It was found that 5 out of every 100 elementary school students experienced school violence. Among all elementary, middle, and high school students, 3% said they were victimized by school violence, with the victimization rate highest among elementary school students by school level.

The Ministry of Education said on Mar. 17 that 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education released the results of the "2025 second school violence survey," conducted by the National Youth Policy Institute (NYPI) and the Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS).

The survey was conducted from Sept. 22 to Oct. 21 last year, targeting 220,000 students from 4th grade in elementary school to 2nd grade in high school. Of these, about 170,000 (76.6%) participated.

Among all elementary, middle, and high school students, 3% said they suffered school violence. This is higher than the record high of the first 2025 fact-finding survey (2.5%).

By school level, the response rate for victimization was highest among elementary school students at 5%, followed by middle school students at 2.4% and high school students at 1%, showing a tendency to decrease as the school level rises.

By type of harm, verbal abuse was the most common at 40.5%. It was followed by group bullying (15.3%), physical violence (13.9%), and cyberbullying (6.8%). Stalking (5.6%) and sexual violence (5.1%) also stood in the 5% range.

In contrast, the share who said they had committed school violence was an average of 1.1% among elementary, middle, and high school students. By school level, it was 1.9% for elementary school students, 0.9% for middle school students, and 0.2% for high school students.

Asked about experiences after perpetration, "apologized to the other person" was the most common response at 57.8%. It was followed by "guidance from a school teacher" (14%), "scolded by a guardian or relative" (12.3%), "nothing happened" (8.9%), and "I was also victimized" (7.1%).

As for the causes of school violence, "it was a prank or there was no particular reason" was the most common response at 24.6%. As a response method when harm occurs, "I will inform a school teacher" was the highest at 28.5%.

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