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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Don't cut the number of teachers in evening classes, please!

About 100 students and graduates of night junior high schools on November 27 held a meeting in a Tokyo junior high school room, demanding that Japanese-language classes be preserved at night junior highs.

There are five Japanese classes in Tokyo's night junior high schools, providing a place where former Japanese orphans left behind in China, foreigners, and their families learn Japanese.

"The plan by the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education to reduce the number of teachers of Japanese classes in night junior high schools will deprive people in a vulnerable position of their learning space," said organizer Maruyama Yoshiko.

A 23-year-old Afghan refugee said, "Don't cut the number of teachers, please! My Japanese class has enabled me to communicate with Japanese friends."

Oyama Tomoko, Japanese Communist Party member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, promised to make efforts to improve Japanese classes.

Secretaries of night junior high school graduates' association in Sumida, Arakawa, Setagaya, and Edogawa words on November 25 jointly submitted a request to the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education, calling for the cancellation of the plan to reduce the number of teachers in night junior high schools.

They said, "Japanese classes are an important opportunity for those who cannot speak Japanese and have not completed junior high school's curriculum. The number of teachers is already cut to a minimum. We request that Tokyo provide an education appropriate to a major world city.
- Akahata, November 29, 2005