September 5, 2011
Akahata editorial (excerpts)
Osaka’s local party “Osaka Ishin-no Kai” (Osaka Restoration Group) headed by Governor Hashimoto Toru plans to submit to the prefectural assembly in September bills on a “fundamental ordinance on education” and a “fundamental ordinance on municipal personnel.” The bills clearly show Hashimoto’s attempt to exercise dictatorship over the prefecture.
After the “Osaka Ishin-no Kai” won a majority in the prefectural assembly election in April, the party used its majority to enact an ordinance requiring public school teachers to stand up and sing the national anthem “Kimigayo” at school events.
A bill on “fundamental ordinance on education” requires public school teachers to completely obey the “Kimigayo” ordinance and allows the governor to exert his influence on education. The bill suggests that the prefectural education board provide school principals with a guideline which list concrete educational contents in order to achieve an educational goal set by the governor.
The bill includes detailed stipulations: a public school principal and vice-principal will be selected from among the public; teachers have to follow their principal’s school management; a principal should grade his/her school teachers in five levels every year; and a principal should push into resignation his/her school teachers who receive the lowest rating for the second year in a row.
People’s right to education encourages teachers’ initiative in education instead of heavy control by authorities. The 1976 Supreme Court ruling regarding “people’s right to education” said, “State intervention in educational content should be inhibited as much as possible.” The Osaka’s education ordinance bill totally contradicts what the nation’s top court pointed out.
Another bill on a “fundamental ordinance on personnel” states that all senior officials of the prefectural government will be recruited from the public with a fixed-term contract. Explaining the aim of the bill, the “Osaka Ishin-no Kai” said that it will establish “an Osaka cabinet with talents who support the governor’s policies.”
The need now is to work together in order to block the submission and the enactment of the bills.
Osaka’s local party “Osaka Ishin-no Kai” (Osaka Restoration Group) headed by Governor Hashimoto Toru plans to submit to the prefectural assembly in September bills on a “fundamental ordinance on education” and a “fundamental ordinance on municipal personnel.” The bills clearly show Hashimoto’s attempt to exercise dictatorship over the prefecture.
After the “Osaka Ishin-no Kai” won a majority in the prefectural assembly election in April, the party used its majority to enact an ordinance requiring public school teachers to stand up and sing the national anthem “Kimigayo” at school events.
A bill on “fundamental ordinance on education” requires public school teachers to completely obey the “Kimigayo” ordinance and allows the governor to exert his influence on education. The bill suggests that the prefectural education board provide school principals with a guideline which list concrete educational contents in order to achieve an educational goal set by the governor.
The bill includes detailed stipulations: a public school principal and vice-principal will be selected from among the public; teachers have to follow their principal’s school management; a principal should grade his/her school teachers in five levels every year; and a principal should push into resignation his/her school teachers who receive the lowest rating for the second year in a row.
People’s right to education encourages teachers’ initiative in education instead of heavy control by authorities. The 1976 Supreme Court ruling regarding “people’s right to education” said, “State intervention in educational content should be inhibited as much as possible.” The Osaka’s education ordinance bill totally contradicts what the nation’s top court pointed out.
Another bill on a “fundamental ordinance on personnel” states that all senior officials of the prefectural government will be recruited from the public with a fixed-term contract. Explaining the aim of the bill, the “Osaka Ishin-no Kai” said that it will establish “an Osaka cabinet with talents who support the governor’s policies.”
The need now is to work together in order to block the submission and the enactment of the bills.
