Taoyuan student bullying video goes viral. Huang Shijie proposes 4 major measures to prevent school bullying and second-degree assault

DPP Taoyuan mayor candidate Huang Shijie. (File photo, provided by Huang Shijie Bidding Office)

Recently, a bullying video that occurred in Taoyuan City was circulated on the Internet. In the video, at least six junior high school and elementary school students in uniforms were punching and kicking a student. The police have found the relevant students and reported it to the Education Bureau in accordance with the school security mechanism. In response, Huang Shijie, 18, a candidate for Taoyuan mayor of the Democratic Progressive Party, posted on Facebook that in the face of bullying incidents, the city government must shoulder its responsibility and take four major systemic actions across bureaus to catch children who may be harmed.

Huang Shijie said that he felt very heartbroken when he saw the picture of the injured child circulating on the social media. It also caused many parents to worry and anxiety, "What if it was my child?" At present, the police have intervened in the investigation and completed the school security report. The incident and related responsibilities must be clarified in the follow-up. However, one thing cannot be blurred. No matter what happens, violence should not be used to hurt others, and the pain of others should not be treated as a joke. Some accounts even claim to be parents' accounts to "fight", let alone videotaping and uploading the crime process. This not only causes serious secondary harm to the victim, but also highlights the lack of character education and the rule of law.

Huang Shijie pointed out that when faced with school bullying, we cannot just be shocked, nor can we leave the responsibility to the school to deal with it alone. The city government must shoulder its responsibility and take systematic actions across bureaus to catch the children who may be harmed, including clarifying the facts and ensuring a follow-up tracking mechanism. At the same time, we actively protect the victims, actively care for the injured students, and provide necessary psychological support and follow-up assistance to prevent children from having to bear fear and pressure alone after being injured.

We must also establish measures to prevent the spread of digital violent images, and call on all citizens and friends not to watch or repost related videos to avoid secondary harm to children and subsequent imitation effects. In preventing and treating bullying, we must move from post-processing to pre-prevention. The city government should review the prevention and control of school bullying, student conflict intervention, and child protection and promotion, and strengthen the identification, notification and help-seeking abilities of schools, parents, and students.