October 1, 2003.
＊Don’t violate the right to learn at senior high schools!
The school board of Osaka Prefecture held a meeting on August 26 and decided that they would close as many as eighteen prefectural senior high schools, that is, fourteen night schools, three technical schools, and a general school. If their decision is enforced, the right for young people to learn at senior high will be severely curtailed. We call upon the school board to reverse the decision.
＊Demand that three members of the school board back down on what they said!
The following is what three members of the school board, including Mr. Kumagai as chairperson, said during the discussion at the meeting：
Mr Kumagai Nobuaki “Some students take their evening schools for bars and cabarets, don’t they?”
(Mr. Kumagai is the former president of Osaka University.)
Mr Tsuda Kazuaki “They are not nocturnal animals━human beings.” “Night schools will become “welfare-oriented” if they enlarge
opportunities for various people to learn.”
(Mr Tsuda is consultant for the whiskey distiller Suntory.)
Ms Imura Masayo “The educational administration doesn’t have to extend a
helping hand to drop-outs.”
(Ms Imura is in charge of the synchronized swimming team representative of Japan.)
Those utterances look down upon the weak. We call upon the school board and the three members to back down on what they said at the meeting and apologize for their comments.
Osaka prefectural senior high school teaching staff’s union
