Seoul to bolster school counseling in fight against school violence

Seoul has decided to increase the number of professional counselors placed in schools across the city in a bid to prevent school violence, the city's education office said Monday. Under its new, comprehensive measures that aim to root out rampant school violence, the Seoul Metropolitan Education Office is set to raise the number of counselors in the city's elementary, middle and high schools, which currently stands at 549, to 896 within this year. It also plans to have all schools in the city equipped with at least one counselor by 2014. The move comes as the South Korean government steps up its fight against school violence after a series of teen suicides driven by school bullying. Earlier in the day, a court in the southeastern city of Daegu sentenced two middle school students to three years and three and a half years, respectively, in prison for persistent bullying that caused their classmate to jump to his death late last year. The education office will also reduce teachers' workload to help them spend more time taking care of students vulnerable to acts of violence.