education

Network 'Let's Defend Education' set up

Teachers, scholars and citizens launched a "Tokyo Network of Teachers and Citizens --- Don't Allow Education to be Ruined."

They decided to form the network at a meeting held on April 24 in protest against the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education which punished teachers for their refusal to sing the national anthem "Kimigayo" at public school ceremonies.

The meeting, organized by the executive committee that sponsored a mass rally last December to prevent education from being polluted with nationalism, was attended by more than 100 teachers, scholars and parents.

Tokyo University professor Komori Yoichi, a representative of the network, said to the participants, "We are going through a phase to restore conscience to education. Let's create a campaign in solidarity with those who stood and sang the anthem but don't want to compromise their conscience." (end)