Ministry of Education announces nationwide bullying survey

The information is to be gathered by a questionnaire given to all students and by private interviews, Sankei reported. The ministry plans to release information gathered in the survey from August.

Swift move MEXT, all the JHS and ES school kids are on their summer break right now. And they plan to release the results from August, which August I wonder, in the year 3000?

But is Japan going to be DOING anything about it... that's the question. Yet again nobody takes any responsibilities and nobody is punished.

Here are a few of the problems that I see with doing this:

The cost of printing, distributing, taking, collecting, analyzing, collating, and again distributing the results is going to cost literally 10's of millions of yen.

An independent panel of educational experts will not be utilized to read the results of the surveys and the government is going to be in control of any and all information collected. (The "government" types screwed up the recent incident so what guarantees will there be that they won't "hide" damaging information)

What questions, or how the questions are asked in the survey are extremely important, as white can become black and black become white in a manner of speaking depending upon how and what questions are asked. Opinions as well can be read any number of different ways. Again, an issue of trust of the people creating the survey. (This survey is a knee jerk reaction to create the impression amongst the general public that "action" is being taken to prevent incidents like this from happening.....until the next time)

Lastly there really is no need for a survey, only a deaf, dumb, or blind monkey wouldn't understand already that there are systematic problems in the schools that allows bullying to exist in Japanese ES and JHS.

The manner in which teachers are trained, the manner in which administration and BOE's deal with issues like this, the parents and lastly how children are taught to deal with issues of bullying all MUST be changed and just collecting information about something everyone already knows exists is a waste.

This is just to make themselves look good, nothing more, nothing less.

Okay, so what student is filling out the questionnaires cuz from what I know, summer vacation already started! My son brought home a newsletter yesterday with a hotline number but that's about it!

Don't you know anything about this country?

Somebody has created a document about something, which will be circulated and returned. Then meetings will be had about how to collate the information. Then meetings will be had about the significance of the findings. Then it will be announced that "we must make sincere efforts to reduce bullying".

Hey presto! The tragedy has been dealt with.

I bet it will be on paper for a country where cellphone usage is so widespread that they could have easily been done in a day with a toll free number and an electronic survey or Internet page.

Everyone will just lie and say they've been bullied ( I mean the bullies ) so what difference will it make to anything?

There's no corporate interest so they don't know what to do. They'll use the time to discuss it in order to divert attention from the millions of people against nuclear energy, or the thousands from Fukushima who can't get their money from TEPCO.

This will only underline continued distrust and uselessness of government and media complicit with them.

People are going to have to keep protesting everything to get anything. Running a country on nothing can't last this long. Japan has waited long enough.

Good luck Japan! Please keep marching for a new vision

Here's the problem: Schools were and are trying to reduce the number of reported incidents. They set goals to reduce council sessions with students. Schools are ranked by the school board in this way, and the school board only looks at the number, interpreting high totals as bad and lower totals as good. There's no thought gone into coverage, ie reported incidents vs unreported ones. The unreported ones don't exist, as far as they are concerned. They look bad.

A nation wide survey...read by who? Actioned by...who? The problem will not be fixed by surveying alone. It's there and it's marginalized by the same people who NOW want a survey???...talk about giving an arsonist matches.

Perhaps they could extend this to companies and university as well?

Nah, never work, by the time people get to that age they are supposed to be able to handle it themselves and not rely on the government to wipe their noses (rolling eye's sarcasm)

just another National Delay Tactic

“Bullying can occur in any school and we need to reflect on whether or not we have really grasped the scale of the problem,”

Obviously if you need to do a survey to try and ascertain if you've grasped the problem, you haven't grasped it at all and need to start ACTING on it, not just asking people to admit what you already know.

"...they grow up week minded and fragile, even if there is no bulling in the school...."

But maybe they learnt to spell?

Perhaps they could extend this to companies and university as well?

And yes, what do they plan on doing with the information? You have to be an idiot not to know bullying is a huge issue here. We all know this. We don't need a survey to tell us this. So, what do they purpose to do about the problem when they have the facts and numbers?

And yep, plenty of schools are going to be covering things up for fear of being put on a list of bad schools.

While I commend them for attempting to do something, as usual, it is reactive, not proactive and with rules already in place and being ignored, why would anyone think things will change with this being done?

Until the adults here learn to play nice, the kids won't. Baaaah! How many times do I have to say this. In this case, start from the top up and work down.

wonder if they will do for the workplace as well. that is sorely needed. it just continues into adulthood. look at ichiro ozawa if you don`t believe.

Japan's crisis response to everything and anything.....conduct a survey.

"Survey says!!"...Song and Dance

And the sad part is that it will probably satisfy the masses.

S

Ivan nailed it - though keep in mind that this whole process has to be reactive, never proactive! Never proactive! :-(

Ahhhhhhh... at last , the ministry of education finally awakened. Thanks to the Shiga kid family making noise to the world. I still remember way back 1999 when my daughter was bullied at Akagi Syogaku in Koriyama Shi Fukushima ken. I wrote the principal about it and he did not do anything forcing us to transfer her to another school. Sad but the trauma and stress brought by that bullying still affect my daughter's personality until now.

What a waste of money. Why not a "blue ribbon panel" full of the same people that are always on the panels. The minister needs to change the whole system of supervision of classrooms, halls, and restrooms. Administrators need to patrol these areas too and send students home who do not meet the correct behavior standards. They cannot be afraid of the PTA. Sports on Sunday have to be eliminated so that teachers can have one complete day away from students. "The inmates cannot be allowed to run the asylum."

plans to conduct a nationwide survey of all public elementary and junior high schools in an attempt to root out bullies.

And what exactly will they do if they find any? How, specifically, will they "root them out?"

Do they expect the bullies to vanish into thin air when they wave the surveys at them?

Ha-ha well said Ivan !

I think that the details will be gathered, stored in a darkened basement, with broken stairs and a sign on the door stating "Beware of the jaguar!"

Baj, this isn't the first suicide to get attention and I hate to say, it won't be the last. Give it six months and this will all blow over and bullying will return to normal. Why do I make such a comment? Because we've seen it before.

If they want this to be meaningful rather than bureaucracy work as usual they should provide a full disclosure of the questionnaire and results. More transparency of the actual details on this should make the intended publicity stunt more worthwhile.

What's a "bullying survey?"

"'ere son. You'll take da pencil and fill out da form if you know what's good fer yer!"

all problem have a simple solution. we all must complete own responsibilities. if someone in troub we all help them.

I don't understand what kind of problem in Japan schools till they tell us what kind of rules in Japan School. why student are not under control why they have extra time they meet each others.

oh yes if after school someone start trouble for others.

yes I have little advise for this problem.

Tell to all children they must report next day if someone create trouble for him. and give the authority of School teacher they send him in police station where student work like office boy/ peon whole day and next day principle ask him he like go to jail? or tell him what is right and what is benefit but if he doing wrong so what happen in the last.

again I said if someone open school so isn't mean they just teach them they must care of them and build the child career in good way. that is responsibility of teachers.

Bullying is endemic in Japanese culture. The sempei- kohei (sp?) relationship is a legitimisation of this exact problem. Who here hasn't seen the Japanese trait of bullying when in a position of power and sycophancy when in a lower position? To change it requires a sea change that people here are unable to make.

There will always be bullies, you need more teachers and staff!

there will be always bulling in schools, i can t believe how week spirits this kids have, whe I was kid everyday somebody was bulling me, I didnt think about suicide, but instead I punched them in the face, what happened to Japan of Samurais ninjas famous judo masters, the problem in Japan they protect new generation so much, they dont need to fight for anything, therefore they grow up week minded and fragile, even if there is no bulling in the school when they grow up and become a office workers they suicide because their boss yell at them in work. how many cases of suicide in train lines, people with work and suits jump, why? because they grow up with protection from everything and when they become adults nobody protect them anymore and in any small conflict or depression they dont know how to handle it they choose to suicide. what Japan needs is not an other survey or an other unforceable law (which they have millions already.) they need a martial arts training in schools (as compelsory lesson) then they become little bit more taugher I guess.