South Korea Announces New Rules to Reduce Bullying
South Korea's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has announced that schools will no longer delete records of serious bullies when they graduate, but will keep them for two years after graduation.It is hoped that the new rules, which started in March 2023, will reduce school violence.A 2022 survey by the Ministry found that 1.7% of students between grade four in elementary school and the end of high school had experienced bullying that year, an increase from 1.1% the year before.Bullying in South Korea is divided into nine “grades,” according to The Korea Times. Grade 9 is the most serious, and can lead to a student being expelled. Grade 8 bullying may cause a student to be moved to a new school, while Grade 7 bullying may lead to someone being moved to a new class.Until now, students who had been moved to a new school could sometimes have their records deleted right after graduation. Now those records will always be kept for two more years, South Korean newspaper Chosun reports. Students who are moved to a new class will now also have their records kept for two years, but they may be deleted if the student shows they have improved.The Ministry said it will also work with other organizations to reduce online bullying, which increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.The Blue Tree Foundation, a South Korean nongovernmental organization that helps people who have experienced school violence, said that in recent years, more than half of calls to the organization's counseling office were about online bullying.
Questions:1. Mention the rate of bullying in South Korea between 2021 and 2022.2. How many grades bullying in South Korea divided into?3. Detail the new rules presented by the Education ministry.4. How confident are you about the new rules?5. What else could possible eliminate school bullying?
