NHK’s “Close-up Gendai Plus” reported on Monday evening on the spread of abusive treatment of students by teachers in secondary school clubs in Japan. The program said students are forced to practice for extremely long hours, subjected to verbal abuse, and ignored for days for making minor mistakes. The program said although the original purpose of school clubs was to nurture healthy minds and bodies and enhance students’ independence, some teachers go overboard. The program said the conventional idea that students need to develop the strength to overcome difficulties still prevails, adding that students need to be given time off from school clubs.