Classmates shake down girl for 100,000 yen

KITAKYUSHU (Kyodo) The Kitakyushu municipal board of education said Saturday that a 10-year-old girl was extorted out of roughly 100,000 yen by eight of her schoolmates over the past year.

The fifth grader at a public elementary school in Yahata-Higashi Ward was forced to hand over the money by five girls and two boys in her class and a girl in the sixth grade, the board said.

The girl gave them cash from her allowance as well as money stolen from her parents that was being kept in a safe in their home.

The two boys also shook down an 11-year-old girl at the school for about 30,000 yen, the board said.

When the girl's parents learned what was happening, they reported it to the school, the board of education and the police.

The school started an investigation in September and submitted a report to the board of education that described the shakedown as "financial trouble" rather than bullying, the board said.

"It was my negligence that I reported such vicious acts as financial trouble. I deeply regret it and now see it as bullying," the school's principal said.

The board of education also admitted that it did not give any concrete instruction to the school to improve the situation.

"We should have taken action earlier. We regret that our understanding of the case was wrong," a board member said.

The incident is likely to be another shock for parents and educators already bewildered by recent tragedies in which children who were bullied have committed suicide in Fukuoka and Gifu prefectures.

The education ministry received seven letters last week from students threatening suicide over bullying. It is trying to identify who wrote the letters and police in areas where they may have been posted have increased patrols near schools.

Public elementary, junior high and high schools nationwide reported no bullying cases over the past seven years, according to the education ministry.

As this obviously is not the case, the ministry set up a study group last Tuesday to come up with effective measures to determine the true scope of the problem.