TOKYO -- Education officials in two cities in Japan failed to respond appropriately to incidents of sexual violence among students, with one victim suffering secondary victimization after being led near the perpetrators at school, it has been learned.

In the first case, a second-grade girl at an elementary school in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, was inappropriately touched by upper-grade boys on May 31. According to what the girl told her mother, three older students took turns touching her groin over her clothes when she was with her friend during recess.

When the school questioned the boys, two of them apparently explained that they had touched the girl around her abdomen when they passed her by, while the other said he had just pretended to touch her. Their explanations were at odds with the victim's account.

The Chigasaki Municipal Board of Education explained that the school gave guidance to the three upper graders and tried to ensure they would not come into contact with the girl again at school. About 10 days after the incident, however, teachers mistakenly led her in front of the boys' classroom during an evacuation drill. The girl developed a high fever the following day and became frequently absent from school, and in October, she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Meanwhile, there was a case of delayed action at a Sapporo municipal elementary school.

According to an investigation report on a "serious bullying incident" released by the Sapporo Municipal Board of Education on Oct. 8 based on Japan's anti-bullying law, a third-grade boy was sexually assaulted by a first-year junior high school boy in May 2021. Though the victim's mother asked the elementary school to investigate the incident, the school deemed the case "settled" and did not take prompt action.

Furthermore, it was found that no organizational action was taken after the mother asked the junior high school to consider the commuting route of the perpetrator, who lives in the neighborhood, to prevent her son from being exposed to the junior high boy.

Regarding sexual abuse between students, experts have pointed out the risk of both the victims and perpetrators coming into contact at the same school or in the same school district, and have cited lack of support from the school for the victims and their parents.

(Japanese original by Sahomi Nishimoto, Tokyo City News Department)