Cases of violence by Japanese school students hit a record high in the past year, with elementary students increasingly violent, the education ministry¹ said.

The number of cases jumped 18 percent to nearly 53,000, which some experts have linked to increasing stress among children pushed to excel in their studies and also join a raft of extracurricular activities.

"We heard from school boards that children cannot control their emotions and there is a decline in their moral values as well as the lack of their ability to communicate well," an education ministry official said.

The number of cases involving elementary school children, both at school and elsewhere, jumped 37 percent to 5,214 incidents in the year to March 2008.

However, there were fewer cases of bullying² by students, which the ministry counts separately, although it added that the 101,000 cases found at Japan's 40,000 schools was still high.

Bullying at schools, ranging from bantering³ and bashing, ignoring and shutting out from student groups to beating and kicking has long been a problem in Japan.

Technology comes into play, with cases of bullying emails through mobile phones rose by 1,000 cases to nearly 5,900 incidents in the past year.

"Students do not want to leave any evidence of bullying, so online bullying is still not the main problem," Kenjiro Kubo, who heads a non-profit group that helps bullied⁴ students.

日本文部科学省日前称，去年日本中小学发生的校园暴力事件数量创历史新高，小学生的暴力倾向越来越严重。

去年，日本发生的校园暴力事件数量增长了18%，达到近5.3万起。一些专家认为，校园暴力事件的高发与学生们不断加重的学习压力和大量课外活动带来的压力有关。

文部科学省的一位官员称：“据地方教育董事会反映，现在的学生不会控制自己的情绪，道德价值观滑坡，缺乏沟通能力。”

截至今年3月，上一年涉及小学生的校园和其它暴力事件数增长了37%，达到5214起。

据文部科学省的单独统计，去年日本的校园欺凌事件有所减少，但该机构称，目前日本4万所中小学所发生的欺凌事件达10.1万起，这仍然不是一个小数目。

日本的校园欺凌问题一直很严重，包括羞辱、殴打、轻视、排斥和动粗等伤害行为。

此外，一些欺负行为还用到了“高科技”手段。去年，电子邮件和手机恐吓事件增长了1000起，达到近5900起。

一个旨在帮助受欺负学生的非盈利组织的负责人Kenjiro Kubo称：“学生不想留下任何欺负他人的证据，所以网络欺凌目前还不是主要问题。”