The long-lasting impact of school bullying on South African youth
Image: Keira Burton/pexels
When someone says school bullying is simply harmless banter, we need to pause because in South Africa, the consequences are very far from harmless.
Take the recent case at Milnerton High School in Cape Town: a video of a Grade 10 learner being beaten with a hose-pipe, belt, and hockey stick went viral.
The image of a peer pleading for the assault to stop shocked the country, triggered a criminal investigation, and sparked harsh condemnation from the Western Cape Education Department and the Department of Basic Education (DBE).
Why should we care? Because this isn’t an isolated case, and the ripple effects last a lifetime.
Studies show this is happening far more often than many think. One research project found that 64% of Grade 9 learners in South Africa report being bullied monthly, according to the Human Sciences Research Council.
Another found that bullying in primary schools is significantly associated with poorer numeracy performance, showing clear links between bullying and academic disadvantage.
It’s not just about bruises. A qualitative study in the Eastern Cape found victims suffer from anxiety, depressive symptoms, low self-esteem and even self-harm.
So when we minimise bullying as “kids being kids”, we ignore the trauma, the wasted potential, and the culture of fear that can take root.
Bullying in South African schools is a pressing issue with devastating consequences.
Image: Oladimeji Ajegbile /Pexels
Bullying is often brushed off as “just kids being kids” or, worse, “harmless banter”. But the emotional bruises it leaves behind often outlast the school years. Across the world and right here in South Africa, bullying continues to destroy confidence, derail futures, and in tragic cases, end lives. Now, some countries are saying: enough.
South Korea recently made global headlines after several top universities, including the prestigious Seoul National University, began rejecting applicants with documented histories of school bullying.
It’s a groundbreaking move that’s sparking worldwide debate about accountability, rehabilitation, and the kind of society we want our classrooms to reflect.
According to data shared by Representative Kang Kyung-sook of the Rebuilding Korea Party, six of South Korea’s ten flagship national universities collectively turned away 45 applicants during the 2025 admissions cycle due to past bullying records.
Two of those students had near-perfect test scores. But their academic brilliance couldn’t erase the harm they’d caused in school corridors years before.
This new policy means that even stellar grades and glowing recommendations are no longer enough if a student’s record includes “school violence”, a term Korea uses to classify offences from verbal abuse to physical harm.
Starting next year, all universities in the country will be required to apply mandatory score deductions for applicants with bullying records, regardless of how or when they apply.
In a society where university degrees are gateways to lifelong success, this is no small shift. College education in Korea isn’t just about learning, explains sociologist Dr Park Hye-jin, who studies youth culture and moral education.
These qualifications determine your career, your marriage prospects, and even how society perceives your worth. To deny entry based on behaviour, not grades, challenges the entire system.
While some critics argue the move risks unfairly punishing young people for mistakes made in their adolescence, others see it as a powerful message: empathy and accountability matter as much as intellect.
And it’s a conversation that South Africa urgently needs too.
South Africa could learn from South Korea’s stance, especially in linking moral conduct with future opportunities.
It's about setting a societal standard that violence, humiliation, and abuse will not be rewarded with access to prestige or privilege.
That doesn’t mean shutting the door on second chances. Rather, it calls for structured interventions, restorative justice, counselling, and social accountability before students transition to higher education.
As South Korea’s model shows, reform doesn’t happen without resistance. Reports in The Korea JoongAng Daily note that students accused of bullying are already hiring lawyers and filing appeals to erase disciplinary records.
Still, many parents and educators argue it’s a necessary reckoning, one that forces schools to prioritise values over vanity metrics.
Here at home, the stories keep coming. In KwaZulu-Natal, a 16-year-old took her life after being relentlessly bullied at school. These aren’t isolated cases; they're warnings.
What South Korea is doing may seem extreme, but it’s also brave. It’s a reminder that the measure of a good education isn’t just the marks on paper, it's the kind of human being a system helps shape.
Bullying may start in the classroom, but its consequences echo into adulthood in workplaces, relationships and communities.