Japan Press Weekly

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2023 May 17 - 23 TOP3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Demanded by JCP/DYLJ, Education Ministry moves toward prevention of harassment against teaching interns

In the wake of Diet questioning by a Japanese Communist Party lawmaker based on the results of a youth group’s fact-finding survey, the Education Ministry made a notification to universities and local education boards regarding measures to protect students from harassment during their teaching internships, Akahata reported on May 17.

The survey was conducted by the Democratic Youth League of Japan local in Aichi Prefecture last year. It revealed that students on teaching internships at elementary and secondary schools experienced harassment from supervising teachers, excessively long working hours, and other problems.

JCP representative Motomura Nobuko on February 21 at a subcommittee meeting of the House of Representatives Budget Committee referred to the DYLJ survey and demanded that the government implement necessary measures to prevent harassment and provide relief to victims.

Education Minister Nagaoka Keiko in reply expressed her intent to urge universities, education commissions, and schools to prevent and cope with harassment by such means as introducing a harassment counselor system. In addition, she said that she will instruct schools accepting interns not to impose on them long working hours.

Nearly one month after Motomura’s Diet questioning, the Education Ministry sent to universities and other relevant entities a notification calling for anti-harassment efforts including setting up a counseling center and preventing unfair treatment of student teachers who asked the center for help.

Motomura stressed that the Education Ministry sent the notification that met DYLJ demands not only to universities but also to education boards, which is significant, and expressed her determination to work even harder to make teacher candidates’ concerns heard in the Diet.