NEWS ON JAPAN
 
The number of public school teachers who were penalized for corporal punishment of students reached a record high of 3,953 in the last academic year, the education ministry announced Friday.
 
About 3,000 of the teachers were subject to disciplinary action such as reprimands and admonishments for their use of violence on students in the 2012 academic year, according to a survey by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry. The response was somewhat delayed apparently due to the large number of corporal punishment cases that came to light during emergency investigations in 2013. The probes were sought in the wake of an incident in which a student committed suicide after being punished physically by his teacher at Sakuranomiya High School in Osaka.
 
The number of teachers at public primary, middle and high schools who were punished for indecent acts also hit an all-time high of 205 in the last academic year.
 
According to the survey results, 410 public school teachers across the nation were reprimanded for corporal punishment of students in the last academic year. The number of teachers who received punishments, including admonishment, amounted to 3,953, about 1.8 times higher than the previous academic year. The figure is the highest since the ministry began keeping such records in the 1977 academic year.