School violence victims will be separated from offenders for as long as one week, starting next month, from the current three days, in an effort to better protect victims, the education ministry said Sunday.
The change is one of the first measures in the ministry's new guidelines to tackle school violence.
According to the guidelines, schools will be required to immediately separate victims from offenders as soon as they learn of bullying cases, and the separation period will be extended to seven days from the current three.
Additionally, schools will be required to speed up the process of transferring offenders to different schools and will be obligated to better inform victims of their rights to file an administrative suit against assailants who appeal the school violence deliberation committee's decisions.
The ministry will also begin the test run of special centers that provide comprehensive assistance to school violence victims this year. The centers will open under eight regional education offices and run from September to December, the ministry said.
"We will continue to work with education offices to strengthen support systems for victims of school violence," said Jang Sang-yoon, the vice minister of education.
Source: Yonhap News Agency