A police officer from the People's Procuratorate of Guang'an district in Guang'an, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, explains to students from a primary school how to resist school bullying on March 21, 2024. Photo: VCG

Parents should pay attention to acts of domestic violence and prioritize the mental health education of their children, the Education Bureau of Songyuan, Northeast China's Jilin Province, said in an open letter as a number of educational authorities nationwide have been enhancing prevention of campus bullying after a string of recent cases. 

Parents are encouraged to regularly contact teachers to understand their children's situation at school and cooperate with schools and teachers to educate children on preventing bullying. The open letter also stated that if bullying incidents are discovered, they should be promptly stopped, reported to the school, or reported to the police.

There have been many similar open letters recently from local education bureaus to parents. The education and sports bureau of the Linchuan district in the city of Fuzhou, East China's Jiangxi Province, also wrote an open letter to parents. "In recent years, we have often seen reports of campus bullying incidents through the internet, media, and other channels. Campus bullying incidents have been occurring frequently, with increasing severity, frequency, and a hidden nature, attracting high attention from society," said the letter. 

At the same time, various cities across the country are intensively carrying out education on "preventing campus bullying."

On Thursday, in Zhaoyuan, East China's Shandong Province, various departments jointly held a legal lecture titled "Say No to Campus Bullying" for minors at a school. During the event, volunteers played animated videos and explained cases to help teenagers better understand the irreversible impact of campus bullying. Lawyers explained relevant articles of the Law on the Protection of Minors, and informed them of assistance hotlines and channels to protect their rights.

In Ya'an, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, schools in the Yucheng district have carried out various education activities on preventing campus bullying, further strengthening prevention efforts. 

Recently, a series of campus bullying incidents across the country have sparked widespread public outrage after being exposed by the media. In particular, the case of three classmates who allegedly killed and buried a 13-year-old boy in Handan, North China's Hebei Province, on March 10 has triggered a new round of discussion on punishments for juvenile offenders.

On Saturday, the police in Yingshan county, Sichuan, reported that on March 14, six students had a conflict with one of their classmates, and violently attacked her in the school's female restroom by kicking and slapping her. Three of the perpetrators, who are above 14 years old, have been detained.

On March 18, a video showed a male student being beaten by two classmates in the restroom of a school in Jinan, East China's Shandong Province. Local authorities responding to the case stated that the victim was a seventh-grade student, while the perpetrators were ninth-grade students.

Another video showed a girl being brutally beaten and humiliated by multiple people in a hotel, including being forced to kneel, have a trash can placed over her head and being stripped off all her clothes. After the video sparked widespread attention, on Tuesday, the police in Xining, Northwest China's Qinghai Province, stated that they are investigating the incident.

On Wednesday, education authorities in Chengdu, Sichuan, published a new regulation on high school admissions. In this regulation, it is explicitly stated that students who have engaged in campus bullying or other misconduct during junior high school will not be recommended as target students for admission, and will be placed at the bottom of the admission sequence during enrollment.

Global Times