A year ago, Ibaraki University’s affiliated elementary school found that there was bullying that was a “serious situation”, but it had not been reported to the country for more than a year, as required by law.
It means that the school gave a different explanation to the guardian that it had reported to the country.
According to Ibaraki University, in June two years ago, a parent of a fourth-grade elementary school student at the elementary school affiliated with the Faculty of Education contacted him to say that his child was being bullied.
In November of this year, the elementary school declared that it was a “serious situation” stipulated in the Act on Promotion of Measures to Prevent Bullying, but at that time, it did not report to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as required by law.
After that, the children continued to be unable to go to school, and there was continued communication between parents and elementary schools. It means that it was February this year, months later.
During this time, in response to inquiries from parents, the school gave a false explanation, such as “already reported to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.”
Ibaraki University decided on the 5th to set up a third-party investigation committee and conduct an investigation, and on the 6th, the elementary school principals apologized to the children and their parents.
Hiroyuki Ota, the president of Ibaraki University, said, “We misunderstood that we had completed a report to the government by responding to the government’s survey on the number of ‘serious situations.’ We deeply apologize to everyone involved. We believe that there is a serious problem with governance, take it seriously, and work diligently to improve the problem.”