Four years ago, in 2020, a female student at a junior high school in Yokohama committed suicide.The city's third-party committee found that the female student had been bullied by her classmates, and determined that the girl had been bullied. We have compiled a report that acknowledges that there was a causal relationship between this and the suicide.

In March 2020, a second-year female student at a junior high school in Yokohama committed suicide, and her family complained that she committed suicide due to bullying, and a third-party committee member from the city The association conducted an investigation and published a report on the 8th.



The report identifies the teasing of a female student by multiple male students when she was in the second year of junior high school as bullying, and the act of preventing another student from interacting on social media, and also calls it ``bullying.'' It can be said that he committed suicide due to a strong sense of isolation caused by bullying and bullying,'' pointing out that there was a causal relationship.



In addition, regarding the school that was being consulted, the information about the female student was shared with the school's ``Bullying Prevention Committee,'' but it was not recognized as bullying, and that multiple students were asked to confirm the bullying at once. It is pointed out that there were problems with the response, such as gathering people together at the same time.



On the other hand, the city's Board of Education was harshly criticized for its erroneous response, including instructing the school to delete all the words "bullying" from the draft report of a basic investigation conducted by the school after the student committed suicide. I am.



Shinya Koibuchi, Superintendent of the Yokohama City Board of Education, said, ``We are deeply saddened that we were unable to protect the lives of these irreplaceable students.We would like to express our sincere condolences and apologies to the students and their families.We are truly sorry.'' I apologized.



Consultations regarding bullying are accepted at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and local government offices.



The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's ``24-hour Children's SOS Dial'' is 0120-0-78310.



Calls are available 24 hours a day, including holidays, free of charge.



Additionally, Yokohama City's "School Life Anshin Dial" is 045-624-9081.



We are open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.



Contact information for other local governments can be found on the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's website.

Suicide note from student who committed suicide: ``It was painful for me.''

Lawyer Tatsuya Ishida, who represents the bereaved family, held a press conference and began by stating that the female student had written a suicide note in her notebook, stating, ``I am truly sorry to everyone who has caused trouble.The reason she died was because the bullying was painful.'' "I don't think people in the world would consider this to be bullying, but it was still painful for me," he read.



Another comment from her parents was, ``I had heard about bullying suicide through the news.However, I never dreamed that it would happen to my child.My daughter loves drawing. , was interested in art. She was a kind-hearted girl who was kind to everyone, truly too kind. I wish more teachers would understand that even non-violent bullying can deeply hurt a child and push them into a corner. I hope it will spread.''



Furthermore, ``Despite repeated SOS calls from the students and their families to the school, the bullying was not even recognized.Also, regarding the way guidance is given, isolated children are given the option of refusing to attend school, which would further isolate them.'' "There was a lack of perspective that would truly alleviate the child's suffering, such as presenting the situation to them."



He also appealed, ``The results of this investigation have been appreciated by the bereaved family, and I believe that we have found measures to prevent recurrence that can be used in the future. Rather than responding on an ad hoc basis, I hope that the lessons learned will remain forever and will not be forgotten.''

Report compiled by a third-party committee

Specific acts of bullying and causal relationships

According to a report compiled by a third-party committee, two specific acts that the boy suffered during his second year of junior high school constitute bullying.



[Multiple teasing]


The first is that multiple students have been teasing the female student since June 2019.



[SNS]


The second reason is the interaction over SNS with students who are close to each other.



[Absenteeism since the end of summer vacation]


Since the end of summer vacation, the student has repeatedly complained of feeling unwell and has started to be absent.



The student reportedly told his parents, ``I feel like everyone in the class hates me,'' and the parents contacted the school in October.



[Suicide note notebook]


Then, in February 2020, the following year, he wrote "suicide note" on the cover of the notebook, in which he wrote about how painful the bullying was, and he committed suicide the day after the graduation ceremony in March.



The report states that the reasons for students' refusal to attend school were continuous bullying and feelings of isolation caused by the bullying, and added, ``It can be said that bullying and feelings of isolation caused by bullying had a strong influence on the student's suicide. We should recognize a causal relationship."

The school's response: ``There was a lack of attitude to clarify the facts.''

In its report, the third-party committee said of the school's response, ``The methods and content of confirming the facts are extremely inadequate.Even after the student committed suicide, they lacked the attitude of trying to clarify the facts as much as possible.'' "I have no choice but to evaluate the situation as having been very successful."



[Fact confirmation]


The day after receiving a consultation about bullying from a student who committed suicide, the homeroom teacher gathered several male students at once and listened to the story.



The third-party committee pointed out that this method was problematic, saying, ``It is difficult to express the truth and true feelings in front of friends, and it is difficult to talk about things such as who took the leading role or not, keeping in mind the relationship between friends.'' It's entirely possible that they would have hesitated to do so. They should have called them up individually and listened to them."



He also said that he was not able to hear the specific facts about what happened, when, where, and what happened.



The report states, ``When multiple people are involved in bullying, it is important to listen to who was involved in what way, keeping in mind the power relationship. It is insufficient.''



[Not recognized]


Information about student bullying was shared with the school's "Bullying Prevention Committee," but it was not recognized as bullying.



Regarding this, the report points out, ``If this was recognized, it would lead to an organizational response, so we could have expected a more compassionate response to the suffering in the classroom.''



[Response after discovery]


▽The homeroom teacher for follow-up observation after refusing


to attend school met with the parents in October 2019, and at that time heard the student's concerns such as "I feel like I'm being disliked." It is said that they were aware of the possibility that the bullying was continuing.



However, the report states that they did not confirm the facts from the students, saying, ``They should have conducted sufficient interviews and investigated the situation.If continued bullying was making it difficult for students to attend school, they should immediately take action to improve the situation.'' We needed to work hard to ensure that the children could return to school and create an environment in which they could return to school."



▽Regarding the basic investigation


Regarding the basic investigation conducted by the school after a student committed suicide, the school has pointed out that problems include the fact that the school did not inform the family of the suicide and ask if they would like to be interviewed.



Shortly after the suicide, the school decided not to tell other students that she had committed suicide, and was later advised by an advisor sent by the school board that they should do so.



However, the school did not take steps to reconsider its methods or reaffirm the wishes of the family.



The report states, ``It is necessary to consider whether to convey the facts and hold a hearing based on the wishes of the bereaved family.There are restrictions on hearing without conveying the facts, and it may not be possible to collect sufficient information regarding the background facts. It is necessary to explain the gender of the child in advance in order to give the bereaved family the opportunity to make a choice."

Yokohama City Board of Education's response: ``This is nothing but a mistake.''

The investigation report compiled by the third-party committee harshly points out that the Yokohama City Board of Education's response is "nothing short of wrong."



The draft report of the basic investigation conducted by the school after the girl's death originally included the word "bullying."



However, the city's Board of Education instructed the school to remove all references to "bullying" because the school's "bullying prevention committee" had not recognized the bullying. .



The reason behind this response was that although the city's Board of Education should have been aware that the basic purpose of the investigation was to collect factual information, it misunderstood the purpose of the investigation. I believe something happened.



Specifically, the purpose of the basic investigation report was set to ``convey to the families of the students that the school was closely monitoring the students.''



As a result, it is not surprising that the bereaved families were left with the impression that the school was not confronting the facts of the bullying incident, and that it was no surprise that they were distrusted by the school. "There is no other way than that," he sternly pointed out.

Expert: “The biggest problem was that the school as a whole couldn’t deal with it.”

Tomoki Takahashi, director of the Bullying and Student Guidance Research Center at Joetsu University of Education, who is an expert on bullying issues, said, ``I feel like they simply assumed that the female student had stopped attending school due to poor friendships, and concluded that it was not bullying.'' "It can be done," he pointed out.



Furthermore, ``Junior high schools have a subject teacher system, so there are many teachers involved with each student, and they should have been able to approach students from multiple angles, but the report does not include the approaches taken by teachers other than homeroom teachers and school nurses.'' There was nothing written about it at all. It shows that the people who were supposed to care for the students were not functioning adequately. I think the biggest problem was that the school as a whole was not able to respond."