&#91EDITORIALS&#93Put stop to school violence

We are shocked at news that a high school student attempted to sell one of his organs to make money demanded by bully classmates. The victim has suffered from violence for five years. The fact that he tried to get in touch with dealers who arrange sales of human organs, even after he left school, to make money he was forced to pay by the bullies, demonstrates how deeply rooted school violence is and how difficult it is to root it out. It is not only deplorable, but it is time for government, education authorities, civic organizations and parents, including the Education Ministry, the prosecutors office and the police, to come forward and launch an all-out effort to eradicate violence on and off of campus.

This incident shows us that school violence has grown to an unimaginably cruel state. The bullies threatened the student to make money, "either by selling one of his organs or by stealing," otherwise they threatened to hurt members of his family. In years past it was customary for bullies to demand small amounts of money or to get other students to run errands for them, to help cheat on exams or to do their homework for the bullies. All that has changed. Parents of primary, middle and high school students now worry about the possibility that their children can be made victims of school violence, either by physical or psychological means.

It is not because of the absence of stricter measures that violence is rampant in schools. Whenever school violence becomes a social problem, various measures are presented and seemingly implemented for some time. They disappear in thin air when the attention of society and the media fades. When we leave school violence alone, it just repeats itself, again and again.

We all must look on what happened here to our own children. We have to first review the functions of an "anti-school violence committee" that consists of schools, education boards, local governments and law enforcement authorities, and activate it. The best protection for students comes from parents and family members. Students already suffer from entrance exams; they should not be left unprotected from school violence.