Taipei City Councilor Questions School Safety Reporting Loophole; Education Department Promises to Review Early Warning Mechanism

(Central News Agency reporter Liu Jianbang, Taipei, 4th) A Taipei City councilor revealed today that a sixth-grade student at an elementary school exhibited multiple instances of disruptive and deviant behavior, but these were not listed as the same incident after reporting, questioning a loophole in the school safety reporting system and urging the Education Department to review the reporting process. The Education Department stated that it would continue to review and improve the early warning mechanism.

Kuomintang Taipei City Councilor Chung Pei-chun held a press conference in the morning titled "School Safety Reporting a Dead Letter? Bloodshed from Bullying at a Prestigious Elementary School Exposes School and Education Department Failures," which was attended by the school's parent association president and student representatives.

The principal of the school involved responded at the press conference, first apologizing to the parents for not taking good care of the child. The principal stated that due to the student's emotional instability, the school had set up a team to support teachers and would continue to adjust and improve related practices.

In an interview after the press conference, the principal said that for this case, the student would be required to undergo a certain number of hours of legal education. Relevant information and the situation would be forwarded to the middle school the student will attend, and parents would be strongly advised to seek medical treatment for the child.

The Taipei City Education Department stated today that although the school had reported this case and subsequently involved three levels of counseling resources, it will actively integrate with police, social welfare, and health departments in the future and will continue to review and improve the early warning mechanism.

At the press conference, Education Department Chief Secretary Chung Te-hsin said that if a student exhibits violent behavior on campus in the future, the Education Department will proactively contact the school to understand the situation and cooperate with police, health, and social welfare units to assist the case. The department will actively promote awareness among schools on how to report to the police.

In a written response after the press conference, the Education Department stated that incidents involving student safety should prioritize maintaining student safety and campus stability. Regarding this case, it will continue to supervise the school to handle it appropriately according to the law. Through system improvement, early warning analysis, and cross-agency cooperation, it will help schools identify cases with high care needs early, intervene proactively, and provide necessary support to protect students' right to education and campus safety.

The school's parent association president issued three statements at the press conference. First, campus safety cannot only be emphasized after an incident occurs; relevant units should actively and promptly intervene. Second, family education is the first line of defense for a child's growth; when a child exhibits deviant behavior, families, schools, and the social safety net need to work together. Finally, the public should provide more support to frontline teachers.

Chung Pei-chun said that she initially thought it was just an isolated case when receiving the petition, but upon deeper investigation, she found there were many cases, which she believes is a loophole in the school safety reporting system. She stated she is not trying to investigate individual cases but hopes the Education Department will review the school safety reporting process.

Chung Pei-chun pointed out that the student was reported as a school safety incident 10 times. According to procedure, the case should have been placed under monitoring and tracking. However, because the school safety reporting system cannot list incidents caused by the same person as the same event, she questioned that the system has a serious flaw, which led to subsequent incidents.

Chung Pei-chun demanded that the Education Department implement long-term progress management for individual cases reported as school safety incidents two or more times and clearly define the conditions for reporting incidents occurring on campus to the police. (Editor: Huang Mingxi) 1150604