THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
June 15, 2023 at 18:27 JST
The Suita municipal board of education conducted a survey on how many students in the city learn the lyrics of the national anthem by heart.
SUITA, Osaka Prefecture--Labor unions of teachers here are criticizing the municipal board of education's survey of how many students have memorized the lyrics of the national anthem.
The teachers said such a move could threaten students' "freedom of thought" in schools.
Critics say the lyrics of “Kimigayo,” which honor the emperor’s long reign, invoke connotations of Japan’s wartime militarism and imperialism.
“We thought the survey was necessary given what is stated in the government’s curriculum guidelines, but we should have been more careful about it,” said Shinichiro Nishi, a member of Suita’s board of education.
The curriculum guidelines state that schools must ensure that students in all grades can sing the national anthem.
However, the guidelines do not require students to learn the national anthem lyrics by heart, said Tetsuhiko Nakajima, a professor emeritus of educational administration at Nagoya University.
“Education should serve the public, and students’ freedom of thought must be guaranteed,” he said. “The job of municipal boards of education is to ensure this--not to undertake an inappropriate survey like this.”
In an email sent on March 9 to 54 municipal elementary and junior high schools, the board asked teachers to report the number of students by grade who had memorized the lyrics of the national anthem.
The survey was conducted in response to a question from a municipal assembly member in February.
The assembly member, from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, wanted to know how successful schools were in teaching the song to students.
All schools responded to the survey, and the results were given to the assembly member, according to the board of education.
Nishi said the board will examine how the decision to conduct the survey for the assembly member was made and if the decision was justified.
The board conducted a similar survey two years ago upon the request of assembly members.
(This article was written by Yuya Tanaka and Rie Kowaka.)
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