Japan Press Weekly

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2014 August 13 - 19 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Teachers resolve to defend Constitution to protect children

The 2014 National Education Research Conference held in Takamatsu City in Kagawa Prefecture ended its 3-day sessions on August 18 in which a total of 5,100 teachers and staff, parents, and citizens participated.

The conference organizing committee, consisting of the All Japan Teachers and Staff Union (Zenkyo) and 23 organizations, released a statement calling for a concerted effort to defend and make the best use of the Constitution as a means to prevent students from being sent to war.

The statement also calls for the effective use of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in order to launch various movements to protect children and education, and stresses the importance of conversations at home, at work, and in each locality about what kind of education will really cherish children as human beings.

This year’s National Education Research Conference took place at a time when the Abe Cabinet intends to “revise” the board of education system, teach children “morality” as a regular school subject, make known National Achievement Test results of each school, and implement Saturday classes under the guise of “educational reform”.