福岡ふくおか 田川たがわ 中学校ちゅうがっこうで男子だんし生徒せいとが自殺じさつ 第三者だいさんしゃ委い いじめと認定にんてい

Last year, regarding the suicide of a third-year male student at a junior high school in Tagawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture, the third-party committee established by the Tagawa City Board of Education released an investigative report. The report recognized that the victim had repeatedly been called smelly by other students, identifying this as bullying, and concluded that being mentally cornered by this led to his suicide.

In April last year, regarding the suicide of a male student who was in his third year at a municipal junior high school in Tagawa City, the Tagawa City Board of Education recognized it as a serious incident, suspecting that bullying may have been the cause, and set up a third-party committee to investigate the matter.

The Board of Education held a press conference on the 9th and released the investigation report by the third-party committee.

According to the report, it has been determined that the repeated instances of the victimized student being called smelly by members of the same group since around June two years ago constitute bullying.

On top of that, regarding the relationship between bullying and suicide, it can be inferred that the person was mentally cornered, felt fear towards school, and became truant.

It is presumed that the person fell into a state of despair, believed that taking their own life was the only remaining way to solve their problems, and consequently ended their own life.

Additionally, regarding the schools response, it was pointed out that, although the victimized student and their guardian had several meetings with the homeroom teacher to report the harm, the teacher’s understanding was insufficient. Furthermore, even though the number of days the student was absent exceeded the 30-day annual threshold defined as a “serious incident” under the Act on the Promotion of Measures to Prevent Bullying, the school administrators were unaware, and the information was not shared within the school. The report states that “the organization was not functioning adequately.”

Mr. Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Superintendent of Tagawa City Board of Education, said, I believe there were also problems with the way the Board of Education and the schools responded.

We take the contents and recommendations of the report very seriously, and we will work to address the issues, with our top priority being to protect the lives and safety of the children and students and to watch over their growth, as the foundation of our efforts to prevent recurrence.