Photo/Illutration Officials of the Nagoya city’s education board apologize at a news conference in Nagoya on Feb. 11. (Tomomi Terasawa)

NAGOYA—A Nagoya government division that chooses principals and other top officials for city-run elementary and junior high schools has received money and gifts from dozens of organizations that submit recommendations for such appointments.

The money was used to cover the costs of eating and drinking sessions as well as “job-well-done” parties held by busy staff members of the teacher’s division, according to sources.

The Nagoya board of education confirmed the practice at a news conference on Feb. 11 and said it was looking into whether the “gifts” influenced the division’s decisions on personnel transfers and promotions.

Since many of the recommended teachers were not appointed as principals, the board said, “At this point, we have not been able to confirm any impact on personnel matters.”

Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura announced plans for a third-party investigation.

“We must get to the bottom of this,” he said.

The division has annually accepted money and gifts ranging from 5,000 yen ($34) to 30,000 yen per organization, the sources said.

According to the board, the division in summer each year receives nomination lists for its appointments made the following year of principals, vice principals and chief teachers.

These lists come from principals’ associations established in each of Nagoya’s 16 wards, alumni organizations of teachers, and study groups on teaching subjects.

The division has also received cash and gift certificates on those occasions.

In fiscal 2023, 86 organizations submitted nomination lists, and at least 40 of them also gave money or goods worth a total of around 2 million yen. The division’s chief administrative officer managed the money and goods.

An official of the division apologized at the news conference on Feb. 11.

“It was an extremely inappropriate act that would have aroused suspicion,” the official said.

The list of recommendations submitted by each organization have included the names of almost all teachers who meet the requirements for the position of principal, such as length of service.

Nagoya is home to a total of 371 elementary and junior high schools. About 60 to 70 new principals are appointed every year.

During the summer hiring examinations and the winter period of faculty personnel changes, the division’s staff members are so busy they do not have time to eat, according to the sources.

The selection process often requires staff members to work from early in the morning to late at night, they said.

For many years, the head of the division has been a former teacher.

A senior official of the division told the board that it was understood the money sent was a gesture of “encouragement and comfort for the staff’s hard work from fellow teachers.”

A former division official said the money was “given to buy food and drinks as encouragement during the busy season. It is a mutual, in-group support.”

A former official of the board said the practice has been going on for more than two decades.

Asked about the recommendations submitted, the former board official said, “The lists were given as reference information so that staff could appoint personnel from a variety of perspectives.”

The former official denied any influence on the decisions, saying the lists “were not prioritized in making personnel decisions.”

A former junior high school principal in his 60s, who chairs an association comprising teachers who graduated from the same high school, said he has submitted such recommendation lists to the division.

The city’s education board “is a large organization with little information on individual teachers,” he said. “Therefore, there were group recommendations to be used as a reference for personnel matters.”

As for the money and gifts, he said: “It was such a small amount that I don’t remember the exact sums. I did not intend it to be a bribe.”

He also said he was unaware that a total of 2 million yen had been collected by the division in fiscal 2023 alone.

“If such a large sum of money had been collected, it would be difficult to obtain an understanding from the citizens.”

(This article was written by Chika Urashima and Tomomi Terasawa.)

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