Shii demands thorough discussion on 3 issues before voting on education bill

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Shii demands thorough discussion on 3 issues before voting on education bill

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo at a November 9 press conference demanded that prior to voting on the bill to revise the Fundamental Law of Education, a thorough Diet discussion be held on the three issues that throw into question whether or not the government is qualified as the sponsor of the bill.

As a precondition for the deliberations, Shii demanded that the government and the education ministry conduct a thorough scrutiny regarding all three issues demanded by the JCP Dietmembers and submit reports needed for the deliberations to the Diet.

The first issue is the government-instigated "scripted questions" to manipulate public opinion on revising the educational law.

In response to JCP Dietmembers questions, the Cabinet Office admitted that it had prearranged "scripted questions" in support of the government bill at a town meeting held in Aomori Prefecture. Later, the Cabinet Office further admitted that the "scripted questions" were also used at town meetings held in at least four other prefectures.

It has also been revealed that this scheme was proposed by the education ministry and that the "scripted questions" were also drafted by the ministry.

Pointing out that the education ministry played the leading role, Shii stated that the responsibility and reflection for this problem should be made clear before the public.

Secondly, the responsibility of the education ministry should be pursued in looking into the problem that many high schools have failed to make their students study compulsory subjects such as world history. (see annotation)

The education ministry claims that it has not been aware of the problem, but they have frequently conducted personnel exchanges with prefectural boards of education which are responsible for ensuring adequate curriculums for high schools. Thus, many officials of the ministry have taken up posts that should have made them aware of the problem.

Furthermore, already in 2002, the ministry received a survey report in which 16 percent of college students answered they had not learned world history in high school.

Therefore, if the education ministry insists that it has never been aware of the problem, the ministry has to make public the activities of those officials who had been posted to prefectural boards of education.

The third is growing number of suicides caused by bullying that has become a big social issue.

The education ministry reported that for seven years there have been no cases of bullying at schools, but news media reported that there have been at least 16 cases of suicide caused by bullying in the same period.

Pointing out that the education ministry report obviously does not reflect reality, Shii demanded that the ministry immediately carry out a survey and submit the results to the Diet.
- Akahata, November 10, 2006

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At one in every 13 public high schools as well as one in every six private high schools throughout Japan, students have not completed the compulsory subjects. These schools have skipped teaching their students subjects deemed unnecessary for them to take university entrance exams.

Behind this is the excessive competition in university entrance exams promoted by the government and boards of education. Under the pressure from the education ministry, some boards of education force high schools to set numerical goals such as the number of students accepted to national universities.