[EDITORIALS]Discipline problem students

The Ministry of Education and Human Resources announced its intention to enact a law that would suspend or expel students engaged in violence. This type of discipline was allowed until 1997, but then the ministry banned it. But in the absence of either discipline or guidance for the students, violence in schools went on endlessly. Because of the special status of schools and students, school violence was left beyond the reach of public power.
With this kind of negligence, school violence became more prevalent. Schools could not discipline students, and police ignored incidents of violence, so there was no way to stop its spread. The majority of students must not be left to suffer psychological and physical pain because of the minority of juvenile delinquents.
It is a crime to ignore school violence. Hence, the Education Ministry’s decision to legislate a law is to delegate the handling of students to the schools. But this does not mean that school violence and crime should be left to schools only.
The best way is to preempt violence through the cooperation of homes, schools, the Education Ministry, the police, prosecutors and civic groups. Families should watch whether children are showing deviant behavior, teachers must check whether students are left out by others, and police must regularly patrol areas around schools that are prone to cause trouble. We must also pay attention to healing the victims.