kimigayo

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'Kimigayo'-refusing teachers ordered to attend correctional session

The Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education has ordered 51 teachers of public high schools who refused to sing "Kimigayo" at school ceremonies to attend a correctional program this summer.

Those teachers had been suspended or received other types of punishment for their refusal to stand up and sing "Kimigayo" at graduation and entrance ceremonies.

The "retraining session," scheduled for July 21, will require participants to write a report on how they reflect on their failure to comply with board of education instruction. Those who were punished more than once will also have to take a "special session."

At the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly plenary session on June 8 last year, Liberal Democratic Party member Koga Toshiaki said, "Teachers who do not reflect (on their refusal to stand up and sing 'Kimigayo') must not be allowed back into classrooms." The Board of Education responded to this remark by setting up the "session".

A group of teachers last July filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the correctional program. Although the Tokyo District Court rejected their request, it pointed out that if the Tokyo government infringes on teachers' freedom of conscience and causes them mental distress by forcing them to attend the same kind of sessions over and over to admit their failure, it will possibly lead to violation of concerned laws and the Constitution itself.

Kondo Toru, secretary-general of the Organization of Reprimanded Teachers for the Retraction of the Unjust Punishment Involving "Hinomaru" & "Kimigayo", criticized the session for violating teachers' freedom of conscience. He added that it also violates their right of access to the courts because it will be held on the same day as a court hearing in the lawsuit filed by teachers calling for a halt to the "session". -- Akahata, June 15, 2005