News Nagoya family sues school for ignoring ijime

An elementary school student and her father have initiated legal action against her previous teacher, the institution managing her school, and the family of a peer accused of harassment. They claim the school's inadequate response to the harassment caused her psychological harm. They have presented their case to the Nagoya District Court, demanding 6.6 million JPY (approximately USD 42,000) as damages. Previously, it was revealed that the teacher had acknowledged the student's diary entry, which detailed the bullying, with a note of excellence in September 2023.

According to the complaint and other sources, the girl, who was in the fifth grade at Sugiyama Jogakuen University Affiliated Primary School in Nagoya's Chikusa Ward, was hit, kicked and told by her then classmate, "You're dirty," and, "Go away." In her summer vacation diary assignment last year, she wrote, "I was told to die," and, "I was also told that I'm just an idiot who likes history," and submitted it to the school. Her homeroom teacher returned the diary with a red "hanamaru," or flower circle -- usually given for excellent work. The girl kicked the bully to resist the violence, but the school staff did not ask her or her parents why she had done so. Instead, the school placed her in a separate room to study from October, on the grounds she had problems. She stopped attending school and is reportedly visiting a child psychiatrist regularly.

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During a press briefing on 9 May, the student's father stated that although his daughter moved up to the sixth grade in April and was assigned to a different class from the pupil she had conflicts with, she is still kept isolated. Moreover, the school has excluded her from participating in school activities or group photographs and has seemingly ignored inquiries regarding her academic curriculum.