Over 1,000 people were arrested for bullying in school across China in 2016, the country's highest procuratorate said on Wednesday.

The procuratorates approved the arrest of 1,180 people and charged 2,449 for school bullying and campus violence, said Shi Weizhong from the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

Prosecutor gives lecture in a primary school about school bullying in Hubei Province. /VCG Photo

Shi, who is in charge of juvenile crimes, revealed the numbers during a press conference to promote the education of the rule of law in Chinese schools ahead of Children's Day on Thursday. 

The SPP launched the campaign jointly with the Chinese Ministry of Education in June, 2016, and as of today, the local procuratorates have organized at least 17,000 lectures to 17.8 million students in primary and middle schools across China.

School bullying and campus violence have become a rising problem in China in recent years. Videos of teenagers bullying classmates have become social media sensations and make headlines frequently.

On December 8, 2016, a mother's letter complaining about her child being bullied at a Beijing primary school triggered heated discussions on Sina Weibo, the Chinese answer to Twitter. It garnered over 110,000 comments within five days. 

A Beijing primary school involved in school bullying scandals in 2016. /VCG Photo‍

According to statistics from northwest China's Shaanxi Province, about 48.4 percent of local juveniles have suffered or conducted school bullying, and 32.4 percent of them were involved in online school bullying, and Shaanxi was not even an area where school bullying was frequent.

The People's Procuratorate in Guangzhou told a local newspaper last week that in recent years, school bullying has shown some new characteristics, such as the involvement of the Internet and social media in the violence, and the diversification of crimes, including robbery, intentional injury, and sexual harassment.

Prosecutor gives lecture in a primary school about school bullying in Hubei Province. /VCG Photo

SPP official Shi Weizhong said the procuratorates have also been making other efforts in tackling school bullying, such as offering judicial aids and psychological counseling.

The procuratorates have also cracked down on the bars, cyber cafes and karaokes which provide illegal services to the underage patrons around the campuses, so as to uproot the environment that might breed school bullying or violence, Shi added.