It was found that the elementary school attached to Ibaraki University had been involved in bullying, which was a "serious situation," but had not reported it to the government for more than a year, as required by law.
The school had given a false explanation to the parents that it had reported it to the government.
According to Ibaraki University, in June, a parent of a child in the fourth grade of elementary school at the time who was attending an elementary school attached to the Faculty of Education contacted us that his child was being bullied.
In November of that year, the elementary school was deemed to be a "serious situation" as stipulated in the Bullying Prevention Measures Promotion Law, but at that time, it did not report to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which is required by law.
After that, the children were unable to go to school, and communication between parents and elementary schools continued, but it was in February this year, one year and three months after bullying was declared a "serious situation," that the incident was reported to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
During this time, the school responded to parents' inquiries by giving false explanations, such as "We have already reported to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology."
Ibaraki University decided on the 6th to establish a third-party investigation committee to conduct the investigation, and on the 4th, the principal of the elementary school apologized to the children and their parents.
Hiroyuki Ota, president of Ibaraki University, said, "I mistakenly thought that I had already reported to the national government by responding to the national investigation with the number of 'serious situations,' and I would like to express my deepest apologies to everyone concerned. We believe that there are serious governance issues, and we will take them seriously and sincerely work to improve them."