Teacher questioned for failing to stop bullying (Japan)

[AsahinaKimi]

AICHI —Japan.

A junior high school teacher in Nagoya has been questioned by the Nagoya Board of Education after students claimed that she failed to help a bullied child who later committed suicide.

According to police, the 13-year-old boy committed suicide by jumping from the roof of his apartment building on July 10. He left a note in which he said that several people had urged him to kill himself, TBS reported.

Following his death, several of the boy’s classmates said that the teacher was aware the boy was being pressured by bullies to commit suicide and refused to help him. The boys said that the teacher was in the classroom when a group of boys was urging the victim to kill himself, TBS reported.

The teacher reportedly told the Board of Education committee that she was unaware the boy was being encouraged to commit suicide and had not ignored his plight. After hearing the teacher’s statement, the board announced that it will distribute an anonymous survey to the students to gather further information.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/teacher-questioned-for-failing-to-stop-bullying-that-resulted-in-students-suicide

[DirkGently]

1. Interesting (and sad) window into how bullying works in Japan.

They just pressured / shamed him into suicide? I can believe it, but that speaks to different peer group model than what we see here.

[Mass]

2. This happens in this country as well. There were numerous kids in the US who killed themselves after

bullying. I can think of two in the Springfield MA area just off the top of my head.

I am unsure whether the teachers have been questioned in those cases, but my bet is that they were.

[DirkGently]

3. Not the suicide. The lack of any mention of anything else.

No word of physical abuse, threats, social media slanders or sexual humiliation.

I read the story as the bullies simply demanding the victim kill himself. That's not something we see here.