Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2015 September 30 - October 6 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Local residents call on high school to reconsider introduction of SDF course

Various citizens’ organizations and local trade unions in Kochi City have called on a private high school located in the city to rethink its plan to introduce a new course to help students enter the Self-Defense Forces.

The council unifying those organizations on September 29 announced that it sent a letter of request to Kochi Chuo High School on the day before because school officials have been refusing to communicate with them.

This high school is planning to introduce the SDF course next April as part of the comprehensive course of study. According to the school pamphlet, the purpose of the new course is to foster future leaders through teaching about the important role of the SDF. Former SDF personnel will teach classes such as Jukendo, the martial art using bayonets. An SDF enlistment experience program will also be on the curriculum menu.

The letter of request points out that the recent enactment of the security-related legislation will increase the possibility that SDF personnel will become involved in armed conflicts, and adds that the SDF is no longer just another place of employment for new graduates to consider. It urges the school board to return to the starting point of postwar education which is to “never again send our children to battlefields”.

Union activist Taguchi Tomomitsu who is also a member of the council said, “I hope Kochi Chuo High School will change its position of helping to mobilize children to participate in wars.”

Past related articles:
> SDF desperately trying to recruit high school students [December 23, 2014]
> SDF approach to high school students just after Cabinet decision on collective self-defense stokes public fears [July 5, 2014]