Japan schools to rethink beating
Japanese schools should rethink their decades-old ban on corporal punishment, a government-appointed panel has urged.
The report, submitted amid growing concern over bullying, stopped short of overtly backing beating, but suggested an end to a policy of leniency.
Bullying was found to be involved in 14 of 40 youth suicides from 1999 to 2005 in a country where pupils are also under great pressure to perform well.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called the report "wonderful".
He said what was important now was to carry it out, though it could take some time.