The South Chungcheong Provincial Council has taken a proactive step to explore the role of the community in preventing and resolving school bullying through educational means.

On April 24th, the Provincial Council convened a deliberation session under the theme of "School Bullying Prevention and Exploring the Role of the Educational Community" at the Grand Auditorium of the South Chungcheong Provincial Library's Culture and Education Center. This forum was organized to discuss a shift in policy direction, moving beyond mere punitive measures towards a prevention-oriented approach that emphasizes mutual respect, empathy, and the restoration of community spirit.

The session was chaired by Lee Sang-geun (Hongseong 1, People Power Party), Chairman of the Education Committee of the South Chungcheong Provincial Council, with a keynote presentation delivered by Professor Lee Anna, a research professor at the Ewha Womans University Institute for School Violence Prevention.

In her presentation on "The Role of the Community in School Bullying Prevention and Educational Resolution," Professor Lee introduced school bullying prevention systems from the United States, Canada, France, and Germany. She stressed that "response focused on post-incident punishment has limitations in fundamentally resolving the issue. Therefore, it is crucial to establish a prevention-centered educational paradigm that aims for relationship recovery and the restoration of community trust."

The designated discussion panel included six field experts from various sectors: Attorney Ko Bong-chan, Park Yong-joon (Education Specialist, South Chungcheong Provincial Office of Education), Son Ha-jin (Teacher, Cheonan Cheongdang Elementary School), Jeon Yoon-ju (Principal, Cheonan Seongseong Elementary School), Pyo Mi-ja (President, Chungnam Provincial Parents Federation), and Hwang Woon-sun (Investigation Team Leader, Cheonan Dongnam Police Station).

The panelists shared their insights and proposed various measures to enable the local community to collectively manage conflicts and support students' stable reintegration. These included ▲strengthening expert-centered conflict mediation processes, ▲fostering close cooperation among relevant organizations, ▲providing education for the educational community including teachers and parents, and ▲building infrastructure to expand the role of school bullying prevention police officers.

The South Chungcheong Provincial Council intends to comprehensively analyze the diverse opinions voiced at the deliberation session and actively utilize them as foundational data for policy consultations and system improvements with the South Chungcheong Provincial Office of Education, municipal and county authorities within the province, and relevant organizations.

Representative Lee Sang-geun emphasized, "Schools must be spaces where students are respected and can grow safely. School bullying is no longer the sole responsibility of specific students or teachers, but a shared challenge that we must all address together." He further stated, "We must create a virtuous cycle where the entire community recovers through the protection of victims and educational intervention for perpetrators. We will thoroughly review the voices from the field and policy proposals presented today and will do our utmost, in cooperation with the Office of Education, to institutionalize a South Chungcheong-style school bullying response system."

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