Japan Press Weekly

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2013 July 24 - 30 [EDUCATION]

Tokyo gov’t sends high school students to SDF camp for ‘emergency drill’

The Tokyo government plans to send high school students to the Self-Defense Forces’ base in northern Tokyo to participate in a “disaster prevention drill” jointly with SDF troops.

This was revealed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education on July 24 in response to an inquiry by Japanese Communist Party members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly.

According to the education board, students of Tokyo’s Tanashi Technical High School will stay at the Ground SDF Camp Asaka from July 26 to 28. What they will learn from SDF troops there includes how to create a litter, how to rescue persons, and how to give them first aid.

In its plan to promote reforms of public high schools in February 2012, the education board proposed collaboration with the SDF in programs to “nurture students’ ability and willingness to contribute to their society”.

During the period between April 2012 and March 2013, four public high schools in Tokyo carried out emergency drills with the SDF.

JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly members argue that disaster prevention drills should be in collaboration with the Fire Department, which is tasked to provide disaster relief, not with the military.

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On July 25, JCP members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly made urgent representations to the local board of education, demanding the cancellation of the disaster drill.

They criticized the education board for secretly arranging the event and prohibiting the public from monitoring it. They also pointed out that the SDF cannot provide students with knowledge necessary for local disaster prevention.

An official of the education board responded by saying, “To give students opportunities to learn many organizations’ activities will help foster their awareness for disaster prevention.”