National government asked local governments to mobilize participants in town meetings

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National government asked local governments to mobilize participants in town meetings

In six out of eight town meetings on educational reform, the national government had requested local governments beforehand to mobilize participants, it admitted on November 27.

The government has used the outcomes of the town meetings as the grounds for its argument that thorough discussions on a bill to revise the Fundamental Law of Education have been carried out nationwide and that the bill is well understood by the public. The revelation, however, clearly shows that that argument is false.

According to the Cabinet Office and the Education Ministry, at a town meeting held on September 2 in Hachinohe City in Aomori Prefecture, 279 out of 401 participants took part in the meeting at the request of the Prefectural Board of Education.

It was already brought to light that at this Hachinohe meeting, the education ministry had people asking pre-scripted questions in favor of revising the Fundamental Law of Education.

The government had also urged local governments to mobilize participants for town meetings held in Gifu City in Gifu Prefecture (December 2003), Yonezawa City in Yamagata Prefecture (April 2004), Matsuyama City in Ehime Prefecture (May 2004), Wakayama City in Wakayama Prefecture (October 2004), and Beppu City in Oita Prefecture (November 2004).

The government's arrangement of using pre-scripted questions was discovered in five town meetings with exception of Yonezawa City.
- Akahata, November 28, 2006