Even when on the verge of taking his life, he was “not strong enough to go through with it”…Oiso elementary school student’s fierce bullying “mother is outraged”, unbelievable words from the school.

My son was bullied for five years, but the school did nothing about it,” said the mother of A, who was subjected to severe bullying at elementary school.

The mother of a child, A, who was subjected to severe bullying at elementary school, is outraged.

Serious bullying was taking place at an elementary school in the town of Oiso, Kanagawa Prefecture. The situation did not improve despite repeated pleas to the school by the boy’s parents, and the school was recognized as a “serious situation” under the Law Concerning the Promotion of Anti-Bullying Measures, which is a serious matter. The situation did not improve until after he had transferred to a different school because he could no longer bear the damage. An investigation by a third-party committee is still underway.

The mother of Mr. A shared her feelings about the bullying.

The bullying started in the first grade of elementary school. The bag in which my son’s gym clothes were kept was torn on several occasions, and at first I just thought, ‘Maybe he’s using it too roughly. However, during a class observation, I witnessed a child in the class tearing the bag. I also found out that the boy usually said to my son, who is a big boy, “Hey, fatty, you’re in my way,” and harassed him when he left school. I told the homeroom teacher and the vice principal, but the bullying didn’t stop.

‘I want him to work it out on his own’

There were several bullying groups inside and outside the class, and the attacks on Mr. A continued as the school year progressed.

They continued to kick my son’s school bag and throw his shoes out of the shoe box. The bullying was also insidious, with the bully often calling my son names in a taunting manner and trying to cover it up by telling him not to tell anyone about it. The stress of being bullied caused my son to develop tic symptoms such as blinking his eyes and stomach pains.

In the fourth grade, the bullying escalated further.

In the fourth grade, the bullying escalated further: “He punched me in the face, took my test papers and threw them away. At lunch time, he would swear at my son and say, ‘Don’t eat fat food,’ so there were almost no side dishes. My son complained to his homeroom teacher about this, but she wouldn’t take it up with him.

A was unable to go to the restroom calmly and was unable to eat his school lunch properly, so he began to leave school early. He was also told by a group of bullies that they wanted to push him down the stairs, and he had to watch his back at all times while at school.

His mother complained to the school about the bullying at every opportunity, and his father wrote a letter to the principal asking for an appropriate response. However, he received unbelievable words from the school, such as, “I want you to solve small bullying problems by yourself,” and “Mr. A lacks the ability to go through with it (bullying).

“We consulted the town council and the mayor because we couldn’t expect them to say anything, but the principal just said, ‘We are handling it as a school, so don’t worry about it. My son asked his homeroom teacher for help more than 10 times, but she told him to ‘be persistent and don’t make eye contact with the kids who are bullying him. Eventually, the bullying group started verbally abusing him in groups even when he was leaving school, and my son began to show symptoms of stress, such as a sore heart, shaky hands, and tears.

In the 5th grade, the stress from the bullying worsened his bronchial asthma, and he began to complain that if the bullying continued any longer, his heart would break and he would never be able to get back to normal, and that he did not live his life to be bullied. I decided to move to an elementary school in a neighboring town because I felt I couldn’t take it anymore. After that, I no longer experienced bullying, which in turn highlighted the severity of the past five years.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s guidelines for serious bullying situations stipulate that schools must take appropriate measures when a victim transfers schools. However, schools have not investigated the bullying, as they are unaware of children who have moved to other schools.

When we asked the school to investigate, they said, ‘We have no record or memory of our son’s bullying. They have not even given guidance to the parents of the bullying group. One possible reason for hiding the fact of bullying to this extent is that the bullying group includes the son of the then town council member, who has a strong relationship with the school and school board administration.

Since it is a small town, there must have been an atmosphere of not saying anything to the children of influential people. In fact, when my husband asked the principal to mentor the council member’s son, he was rebuffed, saying, ‘I can’t do it because he is close with the parents.’ Another council member with whom I consulted said, ‘Everyone knows about your son’s bullying, but (because his parents are influential) they will not take proper action.

‘They should be pursued severely.’

The mother, feeling threatened that the bullying would be dismissed as having never happened, filed a disclosure request with the town in April 2011, seeking evidence. The town’s Board of Education then made a complete turnaround and declared the bullying to be a serious situation. The disclosed documents also revealed a sloppy management system.

According to the disclosed attendance record, all 65 days my son left school early in the fourth grade were counted as attendance. This could be seen as a cover-up of the fact that he was being bullied. It is unbelievable that a school can do this and yet have no record of bullying, and if the school doesn’t change, it will happen again. There is currently a third-party committee investigating my son’s bullying, and I hope that they will clarify the facts of what happened and put in place a system to ensure that bullying will never happen again.”

I wonder how the elementary school in question feels about the fact that this kind of bullying took place. When we asked the principal of the elementary school about the reasons for not taking appropriate action, he replied , “The town’s Board of Education will handle the interview. When we sent another question to the Oiso Town Board of Education, the response was, “We will refrain from responding to individual cases as a so-called third-party committee is currently conducting an investigation into the seriousness of the situation” (Education Department, School Education Division, Education Guidance Section).

According to the Ministry of Education, the number of serious bullying incidents at elementary and junior high schools nationwide in FY2011 reached a record high of 1,306. There has been no end to the number of suicides believed to have been caused by bullying. Attorney Tomonori Takahashi, an expert on bullying issues, criticizes schools for failing to take appropriate measures.

In this case, the school had to take action when the child’s parents reported that the child was being bullied. In this case, the child was so mentally trapped that he had to be transferred to a different school, but the school’s failure to take action against bullying even at that stage should be severely pursued. It is also necessary to keep recordings and other evidence because some teachers will flip out and say, ‘I thought it was a problem’ when the investigation stage comes around.”

If bullying goes forward, it could be serious enough to cause the victim to take his or her own life. It is important for schools and teachers, as well as parents, to take action and nip trouble in the bud while it is still small.