3 Zendokyo and Others: Teachers' Commitment to Dowa Education
LOW ENROLLMENT/ HIGH ABSENCE RATES IN SCHOOLS
Japan's defeat in the Second World War came on August 15, 1945, when it began to march toward democracy. The Fundamental Law of Education was promulgated in 1947 laying the foundation of post-war education for democracy.
Buraku discrimination survived through the war and was symbolically represented by the poor enrollment rate of Buraku children in schools. For instance, in the early 1950's in Nara, the ratio of long-time absentees in junior high schools (those who never went to school in the month of April, when school year starts in Japan) was 35% compared to 2.7% for non-Buraku students.
Buraku children were counted as vital helpers in the family and were not sent to school in many cases. This situation was sustained by the dire poverty resulting from Buraku discrimination.
Most educators, however, were likely to perceive it as the result of Buraku parents' lack of understanding or the children's lack of motivation to study. In most schools, no serious efforts of Dowa education were made and discriminatory incidents kept taking place one after another.
In 1948 in Kochi Prefecture, a small number of so-called "fukushi kyoin" (welfare teachers) began to work for the solution of the low enrollment problem by visiting Buraku homes and giving advice to Buraku parents. They were the harbingers of Dowa educators who regarded it vital to listen to the voices of Buraku parents and to read hidden messages from the dialogues. Those educators reflected seriously on the fundamental meaning of education and began to emphasize actively the need "to learn from the reality of Buraku discrimination."
BURAKU DEMAND FOR ADMINI STRATIVE MEASURES
All Romance Struggle
In 1951, a lowbrow magazine carried a fiction titled "Tokushu Buraku" (special hamlet) written by a staff member of the hygiene section of Kyoto municipal government. It portrayed a Buraku community, in real name, as an area abundant in crime and violence along with its poor living conditions. The Buraku movement criticized harshly the Kyoto municipal administration that had failed to take necessary measures for the Buraku as well as the publication itself.
The denunciation revealed that Buraku communities in Kyoto suffered intensively from poor housing, lack of fire hydrant, sewage and waterworks, and low level of school enrollment. This so-called "All Romance Struggle" became a model for a number of administrative struggles that were engaged in other municipalities later.
Yoshiwa Junior-High School Incident
In June 1952, a social studies teacher, in discussing the "four class plus outcaste" system in the Edo era stated that the ancestors of the outcastes had been slaves or foreigners in the Heian era (794 - 1191) and that they were presently called "Yotsu" (four-legged) or "Eta" (filth abundant). He then wrote down these epithets and asked students to raise their hands if they knew them. Most students immediately looked at a Buraku student in the class who felt like targeted.
Buraku parents, hearing about this incident, declared that they would no longer send the children to the school because, as they said, "Our children do not go to school to be discriminated- against. We will not entrust our children to the care of this school and its teachers."
This incident left the following lessons:
- Most children are already aware of Buraku discrimination even before they come to school, and many are prejudiced against Buraku. Therefore, the "Netako wo okosuna" (Don't wake up a sleeping baby) approach is not effective.
- Dowa education should be promoted in strong collaboration with the community by closely observing its reality of discrimination and in a systematic way, guided by a well-planned implementation program.
- It is vital to educate students as a group to be caring and supportive to each other so that they develop a strong anti-discrimination consciousness and attitude among them.
Supply of Free School Textbooks
School textbooks are currently supplied free of charge for elementary and lower-secondary students in Japan, because these levels of schooling are compulsory. The free supply of textbooks was stipulated in a law enacted in 1963 according to Article 26 of the Constitution. It should be noted that the struggles of Buraku parents and children brought about this enactment.
By the latter half of the 1950's, most Buraku children had already been enrolled in schools. It was difficult financially for them, however, to purchase school textbooks and stationery. Struggles for free supply of textbooks developed in Buraku communities in Osaka, Nara, Kyoto and Kochi prefectures.
For instance, in 1962 in Gose city, Nara prefecture, Buraku children went to school without carrying textbooks deliberately demanding that textbooks be supplied free to all according to the Constitution. In response to this, the local school board promised to them that they would request for special budget to supply free textbooks starting in the second trimester.
These demands for free textbooks, first voiced from Buraku communities, expanded nationwide, and finally achieved the objective.
FOUNDlNG OF ZENDOKYO AND EVOLUTION OF DOWA EDUCATION
Birth of Zendokyo
The Zendokyo (zen-doh-kyoh) or the National Federation of Dowa Educators' Associations was founded on May 6, 1953, to explore and consolidate the foundation of education for democracy in Japan. Its birth was strongly supported by the Buraku liberation movement.
The history of Zendokyo in the past four decades symbolizes the history of post-war Dowa education. Practices of Dowa education had been seen already in several prefectures, but there was no national organization before Zendokyo. Representatives of Dowa educators from seven prefectures and two cities gathered at its founding assembly: Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto City, Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City, Hyogo Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Okayama Prefecture, Tokushima Prefecture and Kochi Prefecture; all in western-Japan and mostly in the Kansai region.
The Zendokyo has pursued a broad mass-based education reform movement by focusing on how schooling can be meaningful in coping with the concrete reality of discrimination as seen in the lived life of children, parents and Buraku community and by accommodating under its umbrella diverse ideological viewpoints and political positions.
Expansion of Dowa Education Nationwide
In parallel with the birth of Zendokyo, various local governments began to issue guidelines and provide curriculum materials for Dowa education as follows:
| Year | local administration | title of guideline |
| 1947 | Wakayama Prefecture | Guideline on Dowa Education |
| Hyogo Pref. | Guideline on Dowa Ed. | |
| 1952 | Kyoto Pref. | Basic policy on Dowa Ed. |
| Nagano Pref. | For Dowa Ed. | |
| 1953 |
Okayama Pref. |
Guideline on Democratic Ed. (regarding Dowa Ed.) |
| Tokushima Pref. |
Materials on Dowa Ed. | |
| Maizuru City, | Kyoto Pref Materials on Dowa Ed. | |
| 1954 | Nara Pref | Guideline on Dowa Ed. |
| Kochi Pref. | For Better Understanding of Dowa Ed | |
| Kyoto City. | Guideline on Dowa Ed. | |
| Hiroshima Pref. | Guideline on Dowa Ed. |
|
| Osaka Pref. | Basic Policy on Dowa Ed. in Schools |
With the issuance of the Dowa Policy Council's Recommendation of 196S and the enactment of the Law on Special Measures for Dowa Projects of 1969 as major driving forces, Dowa education rapidly expanded its scale and scope and Dowa educators' associations have been formed in a number of prefectures. 13 such prefectural associations have been set up and joined Zendokyo since 1966, constituting about a third of current Zendokyo membership of 34 prefectures out of 47.
For the past several years, more than 20 thousand participants have gathered in the convention of Zendokyo every year. We may say that this is the largest education-related gathering in Japan. However, Dowa education practices in western Japan still play the center role in the Zendokyo activities, and there is a vital need to expand them nationally in both quantity and quality.
Characteristics of Post-War Dowa Education
The major characteristics of Dowa education can be summarized for each post-war decade as follows:
1950's: Coping with issues of school enrollment and delinquency
1960's: Struggles for better school facilities and services including the free supply of textbooks.
1970's: Development of Dowa education curriculum and supplementary materials
1980's: Broadening the scope of Dowa education to cover other anti-discrimination and human rights education issues
1990's: Networking with international and human rights education initiatives in the world
To Learn Deeply from the Reality of Discrimination
The Zendokyo has persistently held the slogan "We shall learn deeply from the reality of discrimination and build educational practices that assure better life and promising future for the children" since its Osaka convention in 1965. "To learn deeply from the reality of discrimination" has now become a central proposition and common language of Dowa educators. But what does it actually mean? What follows is an interpretation of this proposition.
We can not eradicate discrimination just by preaching repeatedly "Discrimination is wrong." It is not enough for learners to acquire knowledge of Buraku issues, but it is vital for them to understand though their own experiences that to think about issues of discrimination finally brings about positive outcomes to them: broadened perspective of humanity; less prejudiced and open attitudes; capacity to empathize with others; discovery of self-identity.
People usually think of Buraku discrimination in the context of discriminatory incidents concerning marriage and employment. However, the slogan has revealed clearly that discrimination shows itself in the concrete lived experiences in life.
The slogan has also encouraged educators to reflect on their own personal values and attitudes by comparing them to the suffering, resilience and generosity of Buraku people. When reading about or listening to the lived experiences of Buraku people, learners may think about their own experiences and recall feelings of vexation or they may come to awareness that they had also hurt the feelings of other people.
In a nutshell "to learn deeply from the reality of discrimination" means recognizing one's relation to discrimination and transforming himself/ herself.
Outcomes of Dowa Education Movement
Dowa educators have become keenly aware of discriminatory elements in education by visiting Buraku communities and exposing themselves to strong desire among Buraku people for discrimination-free life. Through close collaboration among the home, the community and the school, Dowa education has been shaped as a community-based educational reform initiative.
The Dowa education movement has addressed the need to improve educational facilities such as the school building and the community youth center, to provide scholarships for Buraku children, to assign additional teachers. Also, it has tried to develop curricular materials featuring Buraku community life and labor.
By organizing compensatory education classes and Buraku children's community activities, focused efforts have been made to improve Buraku children's academic performance and to better assure their future.
Dowa educators have reaffirmed through decades of these experiences the vital importance of effective community-school ties and the need to relate learning activities in school to real life.
The Child Rights Convention was ratified in Japan in 1994, and the five-day-a-week school system has been started on a bimonthly basis since April 1995. A range of educational reforms and curriculum development efforts will be needed in meeting the new demands emerging in this new situation. We now have to better understand children in the context of their overall life and perceive their wishes in order to develop Dowa education that meets the best interest of children.
POSITI ON OF DOWA EDUCATION IN JAPANESE SCHOOLING
Goal of Dowa Education
Dowa education is not a special form of education. It refers to all kinds of educational activities aiming at the eradication of discrimination including Buraku discrimination.
Dowa education consists of the following elements:
- To deepen knowledge about the history and the nature of Buraku discrimination: What is Buraku discrimination? How has it evolved? Why is it still persistent today?
- To develop proper awareness and sensitivities among children so that they regard the issue of eradicating discrimination not just as others' business but as their own important concern.
- To cultivate caring and cooperative relations among children so that they are empowered to fight discrimination.
Also, Dowa education is expected to be practiced throughout schooling in all subject and non-subject areas.
Education Ministry's Policy on Dowa Education
The Ministry of Education issued an official notice on Dowa education in 1952. It characterized Buraku discrimination as "a vestige of feudal practice of distinguishing and despising a minority of fellow compatriots" and Dowa education as an effort to "see to it that the spirit of fellow compatriots as one is carried out through school and out-of-school education." This notice was a rather conservative one.
As this notice symbolizes, the Ministry of Education had not taken a transformative initiative in Dowa education until recently, but laid out in July 1994 a more comprehensive guideline prompted by the expanding power of the Dowa education movement.
The guideline is titled "Dowa Education Materials in Schools: To promote Dowa education and guidance on discriminatory incidents." It emphasizes among others the following three points:
1) Dowa education throughout school activities
Dowa education is necessary in all schools regardless of whether Buraku communities are located in their school districts or not. It is also necessary to conduct Dowa education in appropriate manners in all subjects, moral education, special activities, etc.
2) Clarifying the key concerns of Dowa education
The central issue of Dowa education is "to eradicate unreasonable, persistent Buraku discrimination and to establish the spirit of respecting human rights in education based on the idea of equality under the law." To attain this objective, each school should re-examine their school objectives, clarify their ideal images of students, and set up priority elements of guidance for respective grade levels. Special attention should be given to the following points: (a) To make sure that the lived life of Buraku children and parental desire for eradicating discrimination are properly represented in the curriculum; (b) To make sure that Dowa education does not just provide information and knowledge but also cultivate attitudes and mind as well as the self-directed initiative to solve Buraku discrimination.
3) Providing appropriate guidance meeting different needs of respective school subjects.
Dowa education should be practiced systematically throughout schooling. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the objectives and contents of respective subjects from the perspective of Dowa education so that priority guidance concerns for Dowa education are properly spelled out clearly for each subject.
Thirty years have passed since the Dowa Policy Council's Recommendation of 1965. And now for the first time, the Ministry of Education issued the above-mentioned document on Dowa education which is rather comprehensive. We understand that this new move has been prompted by the growing Dowa education movement. At the same time, however, we appreciate this new initiative of the Ministry of Education because it can have a significant impact on the promotion of Dowa education in certain prefectures where Dowa education has hardly been practiced in the past.
We expect that this synergetic framework will help expand and enrich Dowa education further.