Education ministry to investigate all suicides by children

Meaning they haven't been so far?!?

Meaning they haven't been so far?!?

Obviously not.

The guidelines are in response to a high-profile suicide in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, in November 2011

Impetuous, aren't they.

Don't the police investigate this already? Maybe the results of these investigations should be made public?

@mitoguitarman

It's hard to understand. NHK news this morning said it was the first ever investigation into child suicides, but then proceeded to roll out a list of stats regarding the causes: parents' divorce, bullying etc.

Weird.

(Y) And all they need to do now is charge bullies as criminals if their bullying goes too far or causes suicide (If they are in middle school or high school). Finally, they're taking the problem seriously...and also they need more counselors (which means they should offer counselling jobs to foreign workers. Settles more than one issue)

So, investigate after the kid is dead. That makes perfect sense. NOT! They should be investigating what makes so many kids kill themselves before they do! This investigation should be run by trained psychologists and not by education ministers clerks. I've worked in many high schools and all the students have huge workloads, lack of sleep, poor eating habits, rigorous sport rituals, no individuality and all these lead to depression. I would guess that at least 50% (or more) high school students are suffering from depression and it is not because they are being bullied. It is because of the school system.

It's only 2014 and the institutions are based in 1814 there is a lag time. Also as women and children are not worth anything what's the worry. Not like the old men need either.

So children killing themselves is so normal no one thought to investigate it before now?

And how many thousands did it take for this to be introduced? And, sorry, but investing BEFORE a suicide occurs would be ideal -- this is just the education ministry trying to cover itself for the up-to-now neglect.

These deaths are happening for the same reason college suicides happen. Schools do not warn students about a little known problem American engineers discovered when it caused mental breaks for office workers in 1964.

Today computers and other view-screen devices allow students and home computer users to make the design mistake then have Subliminal Distraction exposure for the mental break engineers discovered.

When did you ever hear of a student suicide from bullying before the invention of the computer?

<VisionAndPsychosis.Net>

thats why im teaching my son not to get affected if somebody tries to bully him and never bully anybody.Parents must show their love to their children so that the kids will know that they are protected and loved so theres no reason to be affected coz people who do bullying are the saddest people on earth! (●´∀｀●)

schools must quickly conduct surveys of teachers and students about whether they were aware of any bullying in cases where children take their own lives

If they're going to take surveys only after kids commit suicide, they're missing the point. Any signs of bullying need to be monitored before the situation gets out of hand.

For starters, increase government spending on education (among the lowest in the OECD) and improve student:teacher ratios. 40 in a class is just asking for trouble. It costs money, but it's money well spent.

What's needed in order to help prevent this kind of thing is education for the EDUCATORS, as to how strictly they will be punished for ignoring and/or covering up bullying. Showing bullies or the bullied videos or talking to them about how 'life is important' or that they 'should not bully' is only going to make the victims feel worse in many cases, and the bullies more adamant if they feel pressured. Let the board of Eds and teachers/schools know that if they turn a blind-eye on bullying and a kid dies that the former will be jailed, and give them the powers to truly deal with bullies. I literally could not believe my eyes when I visited a school once and saw one kid beat another kid, and they forced the kid who was beaten to apologize in the staff room. Granted, they also demanded the bully apologize, but while the victim was shaking and crying the bully said, "yeah, yeah... sorry! Can I go now?" and the teachers let the bully go only to ask the kid who was beaten to try and avoid him.

Because teachers are trained to deal with "investigations", right? I have an idea. If the government is so concerned about bullying, why don't they start behaving themselves and figure out who made the sexist comments? Then they could hire some trained folks to deal with the problems of bullying at school. And perhaps, start dealing with the number of parents who claim they had no idea their kid was suffering at school but blame the teachers for not knowing. Unreal. As if teachers in this country don't have enough to do as it is.

tmarie: "As if teachers in this country don't have enough to do as it is."

Agreed, they have way too much paperwork and BS to deal with, including 'monster parents', but I get pretty tired of hearing about teachers, schools, and BOEs saying they had no idea and it being later revealed the victim had approached them about the bullying a number of times, and/or the parents called about it. That's why I said they need to be given the power to deal with the situation. Most modern nations have a 'zero tolerance' policy when it comes to bullying and/or violence, and will suspend or expel the people responsible. Not in 'gaman' nation. That's the ONE thing I support Abe on; he wanted to put a system of suspension in place in schools. But of course, it was thought it would be unpopular with moms who wouldn't be able to go out for lunch with friends, so they canned it. Give the educators the power to discipline.

It is unfortunate that bullying is on the rise however in Japan's high pressure, high-achievement education system, teachers are reluctant to report buying because they are afraid to be seen as incompetent. This issue with bullying will never change without practical changes to the school environment since Japanese students are forced to spend almost all their time together. They live under their own set of morals that aren't always acceptable in society. In other words students are forced to think the way everyone else is thinking therefore nothing will change and bullying is here to stay. Sadly children suicides is also on the rise and often are underreported in Japan among all age groups particularly for children. Children seldom leave suicide notes, and when child suicides do occur, they often are officially reported as accidents. One significant aspects of understanding suicide risk in children is determining whether children have an understanding of the permanence of suicide and death. In other words children with immature beliefs system do not seem to believe that death is permanent, inevitable, or universal. In the end it appears that immature conceptualizations of death is a risk factor for childhood suicide.

I can agree with you Smith when the bullying is very obvious and/or the parents have called. However, how on earth can a parent not know and expect a teacher to know? Bully isn't always done in school, isn't always done in front of teachers... That being said, yes, if teachers know it is going on, they need to deal with it. The sad thing is though, monster parents have ruined the ability of many teachers being able to do something about. I worked at a school where clearly a girl was being bullied and the school did jack - "they're playing." Why didn't the teachers do anything? Monster parents complained in the past their TEACHERS were bullying the bullies for calling them out. It's insane. Give teachers power to deal with it and I think many would - not all though. Some folks have no business being in the classroom but are.

Abe can say whatever he wants but as usual, no teeth and all words. Why isn't HE doing something about the bullying last week and leading by example?

tmarie: "how on earth can a parent not know and expect a teacher to know? Bully isn't always done in school, isn't always done in front of teachers..."

Most bullying is psychological, and it's not that incredibly hard to hide it or lie to parents about its nature. So it's completely possible a parent would not know the truth of what's going on, and far more likely if it happens at school a teacher would. I'm not saying there aren't parents dismissive of what happens to their kids, or really aren't all that divested in their kids' lives, because there are, but if it's happening in the schools and school yard the onus is on the people responsible for the kids' care, and that's the schools and the system while on or around school grounds.

"Some folks have no business being in the classroom but are."

An unrelated, but definitely serious problem with the teacher's education system here as well, which is, like most things, based on rote memory testing on all subjects with a mere two weeks tops of actual training in a classroom (with one week being observation). THAT's why you have some teachers who have no business being in the classroom, like the teachers that themselves bully the kids, or who break down and quit in their first year.

"Abe can say whatever he wants but as usual, no teeth and all words."

Couldn't agree with you more. Probably if he said he wanted to return to a pre-war system of corporal punishment he'd get a lot of wingers agreeing with him, but once he started talking of suspension and parents learned that would mean more time at home and Abe and local politicians' popularity might take a hit, the issue went away.

No-one can expect that children will understand why bullying is wrong. The only way to stop this problem is for teachers to intervene. Most teachers in the public school system in Japan will not because they are already burdened with too many other tasks. Any change in the current system is decades away which means the problem doesn't go anywhere fast.

What good are surveys (always these damn surveys) going to do after the fact?! How about Japan wake up and join the world in trying to prevent suicides? Is that too novel and revolutionary idea? It is my absolute conviction that any teacher/principal worth his/her salt knows very well if there are tensions between students and what could lead to bullying. Those people need to grow a pair and learn to speak up.

If supposedly adult teachers cower, what kind of rolemodels are those for the kids? They essentially say (all with Japan's unique way of communicating without words) that bullying is OK and that taking preemptive action is not necessary.

It also said the school curricula should include classes on the importance of life.

Wait, what?!

Is someone actually paid to come up with ideas like this?

Most bullying is psychological, and it's not that incredibly hard to hide it or lie to parents about its nature. So it's completely possible a parent would not know the truth of what's going on, and far more likely if it happens at school a teacher would.

100% disagree. Teachers don't know these kids near as well as parents SHOULD know their kids. When I taught JHS and HS, I taught well over 250 weekly. Yes, I knew my homeroom kids but I couldn't tell you what happened to them outside of the school or at lunch time when I wasn't with them.

You can't expect kids to know what is wrong when the government of this country behaves like jerks and bullies. I had a laugh at watching Aso on TV this morning talking about ending bullying in schools. Why doesn't he start with his own party first and go from there?

Whether its bullying or just tremendous pressure from parents as per academia, teen suicde is nothing new in Japan. My mom spoke of her high school in Sumidaku (Pre WW2) and this was a ordinary occurence even back in the day

There is a commonly held assumption that Japan has a high-pressure, study-focused school environment. That is yet again a myth. It is a rather lax one, especially in comparison with neighbours Korea and China. The past twenty years have also seen the implementation of Yutori education, which drastically reduced school time and homework.

The true failing of the Japan's education system is its understaffed ministry. That is hopefully to be addressed by the devolution of powers to the regions, such that they may have greater flexibility on the employment of teachers, funding, and the day-to-day running of the schools.

Furthermore, as regrettable as teen suicides and bullying are, they afflict every society. There is absolutely no need to pillory Japan on this issue especially.