Japan Press Weekly

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2011 June 8 - 14 [EDUCATION]

Tell students truth about nuclear energy: JCP Ichida

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi called on the government to stop promoting the “safety myth” of nuclear energy at public elementary and junior high schools on June 7 at an Upper House environment committee meeting.

The Education Ministry encourages public schools to conduct nuclear energy-related programs, such as visiting nuclear power stations, using supplementary readers, and taking part in poster contests.

After the nuclear accidents at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Education Minister Takaki Yoshiaki sent a notice to prefectural governors on April 28, calling on them to promote education programs to foster a “correct understanding of radiation among students in the light of harmful rumors ” about the dangers of radiation.

“Correct information must be shared in order to prevent harmful rumors from spreading”, said Ichida. “What schools should do right now is to provide scientific facts for students, who are eager to learn the truth amid the nuclear crisis,” he stressed.

He demanded that the government teach students to not believe the nuclear “safety myth”, about various alternative types of energy, and the harmful effects of radiation.

Vice Education Minister Hayashi Kumiko answered that the ministry will revise the supplementary readers and suspend the poster contests this year. “We need to pursue ways to properly teach children about the latest nuclear accidents,” she said.