High school. middle school, and even elementary school - I don’t think any of these places are exempt from bullying, that’s a fact. I’ve seen it myself, people getting picked on because their hair is curly, never anything physical - we always had people come in to talk to us about bullying, even in elementary school. It’s something that’s a huge concern for people all around the world I believe; but with all this awareness, people are still getting bullied. And even worse, there have been people who were pushed to the brink and couldn’t take the isolation anymore.

A girl, Akiko Uemura, only 12 years old, living in Kiryu, Japan, has committed suicide just recently, and officials have confirmed, through a school investigation, that she had been bullied and had talked to a teacher about the bullying. But officials are unwilling to determine the suicide as an effect of bullying. Unfortunately, this teacher was not the teacher in charge of her class so she wasn’t able to stop the other students from bullying her. The class, however, has already turned into one where students just do not listen to anything the teacher said. It was just a room full of 6th graders, just pure chaos.

The Principal has said at a press conference, “I did not sense the possibility of suicide from Akiko’s behavior or what she said” which enraged Akiko’s father to which he responded, “If you are telling me there was no connection, I want you to say that in front of Akiko’s ashes.”

The team was able to deduce that Akiko suffered emotional pain from the bullying, but wasn’t able to determine whether it played a role in her suicide. I admit, there could have been something else going on that nobody knows about which could have lead to her death - but you can’t just rule out bullying as a possibility. It is really sad that a 12 year old took her life because of something that could have been solved either by transferring or stricter discipline. And one of the questions raised was why the school did not realize that bullying was happening until two days before her suicide. And what do you think they responded with? “Akiko was often alone since well before the incident.” I know the school is probably trying to dodge responsibility, but really? Bullying leads to isolation. The least teachers can do is pay more attention to their students in class! I don’t know if this is true for everyone, but I feel like bullying is pretty obvious to see, even to teachers. It’s just most teachers don’t want to take responsibility and ignore it, deeming it as something “the students will work out.” The fact that she was always alone should have struck a light in their heads or even make them think, “oh she’s always alone. I wonder if she is ok.” The things people do really sickens me sometimes.

This is really sad. RIP Akiko.