SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- School violence in South Korea rose this year as schools returned to normalcy amid the eased COVID-19 pandemic, a survey by the education ministry showed Tuesday.
According to a poll of students from fourth graders of elementary schools to seniors of high schools across the country, excluding North Jeolla province, 1.7 percent said they suffered violence in schools in 2022.
It was up 0.6 percentage points from 2021 when schools offered online classes for most of the year. The 2022 figure was also up 0.1 percentage point compared to 2019, the year before the COVID-19 outbreak.
The percentage of students suffering violence stood at 3.8 percent in primary schools, 0.9 percent in middle schools and 0.3 percent in high schools in 2022, up from 2.5 percent, 0.4 percent and 0.18 percent respectively in 2021.
The highest type of violence was verbal abuse, which 41.8 percent of the students experienced this year.
It was trailed by physical violence with 14.6 percent, ostracism with 13.3 percent and cyberbullying with 9.6 percent in 2022.
Physical violence was up from 12.4 percent in 2021, but ostracism and cyberbullying were down from 14.5 percent and 9.8 percent each last year. ■
