It is the student who was drawn! English private exam why the country promoted November 7, 20:15

Postponement of the English private exam that shocked 500,000 students. When we interviewed the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, we thought this way. “I want to make it clear why bureaucrats have pushed this policy.”

(Reporter, Kasumigaseki Real Report Team Soichiro Itsumi and Kota Suzuki)

Can't recommend it? !

“It is not a system that can be recommended to students with confidence.” On 1st of this month, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Minister Ikuta explained the reason for postponement in a press conference.

We attended the interview and remembered the face of the students who we interviewed so far.

On the other hand, I was wondering why the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, who set aside the minister, promoted such a policy.

There is no doubt that Mr. Ikuta's “health” statement, which became quite famous, influenced the postponement of this time, but the essence of the problem was “economic disparity” due to entrusting the implementation of the test to a private company It was a structural problem such as “regional disparity”.

Clearly, the exam fee issue that varies from exam to exam, and the chances of taking the exam depending on where you live, were obvious flaws for everyone.

How did bureaucrats push such policies? In order to find the answer, we decided to listen to the real intentions of the bureaucrats.

“'Baba', hit ...”

“Some employees were wondering why this policy is going on,” said mid-level employee A. In addition, Mr. A compared the situation to this card from Trump.

(Medium employee A)
“Some of the staff members were laughing at having pulled“ Bubba ”. If it was introduced as it was, the confusion could not be avoided.

Another young employee B affirmed the minister's postponement decision and said:

(Young staff B)
“Because the application for the test started in earnest in November, I think it was a last minute decision. It was a nuisance to high school students and people who were preparing for the exam, but it was nice to be able to stop once.”

“The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology really wanted to do a private exam.” There seems to be some controversy about this, but as long as we interviewed, there were not a few staff concerned about this policy. However, one thing I want to say is that it was not the bureaucrats but the students who were undoubtedly drawn.

"The bureaucratic responsibility theory" one after another from within the government

On the other hand, Nagatacho. As soon as the postponement was decided, the responsibility was directed to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, especially the bureaucracy.

(Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Seko-san-in)
"This problem is caused by the inadequacy of the system design of the MEXT office work."

(Secretary of Secretariat)
“The coordination and coordination between the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and private testing organizations were not sufficient”

(Former Minister Shibayama)
“It was unexpected for those who had been working toward smooth implementation”

wait a minute. Former predecessor, Shibayama, has always been argued that “many people agree with it”, but Minister Ikuta said, “I have to admit that there is a general deficiency.” Just. Are you responsible for those days? The only thing that can be said is whether the bureaucracy, the politician, or the responsibility is, the fact that the anger in the field has reached its peak.

(Second-year high school boy)
"In the first place, we weren't convinced what the private exam was for, so I think the postponement is a natural result."

(Girl student)
“I got up in the morning and saw the news and was shocked.

(Principal of a private high school where measures were advanced)
“I was really surprised. The students who have been preparing are going to be boiled and boiled, no matter what happens.”

Who started to say in the first place?

In the first place, when and where was the decision to use English private exams?

The stage was the Educational Rehabilitation Conference, which was set up by the government, not by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Japanese who can learn English, elementary and junior high school, and high school. There seems to be an idea that not only “reading” and “listening” but also “writing” and “speaking” skills are necessary to improve it. In 2013, a new test was proposed to replace the center test. Therefore, the use of this private examination was also considered.

At that time, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology was a member of Hirofumi Shimomura, a well-known Bunkyo tribe. Mr. Shimomura, the other day, told reporters about the process and explained:

(Motoshi Shimomura, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
“We decided to use a private exam to ask four skills such as talking in the entrance examination. If we do everything in the center exam, we will have to invest a considerable amount of tax, but many universities already have private exams. It ’s the fact that it ’s a good idea to make good use of it. ”

In this way, although I explained the process of introducing the private examination, it was not a statement that clearly acknowledged that it was my own idea.

However, several bureaucrats interviewed testified that the introduction was a strong instruction of former Minister Shimomura. Some executives spilled that “the force was pushed through”.

Meanwhile, another former executive confessed that there was a problem with the bureaucracy.

(Former Executive of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
“Even though I feel unreasonable, the government officials proceed with the premise that they will do what they do. On top of that, I think that it has been quite a while to hang the clerical work, such as talking about schedules and exam fees. I can't deny that I wasn't able to decide who would be responsible, and I went so far as to be ambiguous.

Yet another employee exclaimed his jealous thoughts.

(Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology staff)
“Even if we say that the schedule is impossible, nobody will ask me, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, was"

Where are policy professionals

These witnesses reveal the bureaucrats who are obsessed with policies initiated by politics. However, this sympathy was dispelled in 2014 when I read the minutes of an expert meeting set up in the province.

On this occasion, there was a voice from experts and educators who pointed out the danger of introducing tests using private businesses.

(Tokyo Junior High School Principal)
“The exam fee is very high”

(Kansai University Professor)
“There are situations where the exam opportunities vary greatly depending on the region, and it is difficult to proceed uniformly.”

(Regional junior college)
"Economic disparity will widen more and more"

These indications, that is, concerns about “economic disparities” and “regional disparities” that could be created by private trials, were already shown to bureaucrats five years ago.

We believe that bureaucracy's persuasion means that when an unwilling policy comes down from politics, if it doesn't make sense, it's `` reasonable ''. I thought that it was something that was reworked to the point where I could explain it.

However, the English private exam was discussed without any evidence of such efforts, and in July 2017, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology decided to introduce it.

The executive who knew at that time testified as follows with a bitter expression.

(Executive of MEXT)
“The goal of the proposal of the conference set up under the government is a sort of goal. What we could do was just a balance of system design. However, it was difficult to judge in the situation of progress, hell, pull, hell.Some employees tried to brake, but there was some danger because the government policy was already decided Also had to be protected. ''

Private testing

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology promoted it under political leadership while recognizing institutional problems. Furthermore, the National University Association followed that. Even university students were honestly convinced that this was the case.

On the other hand, although we have been reporting news that reports this issue, we can only admit that we have not been able to stop the flow.

However, it was undoubtedly the earnest voices of the participants and high school officials who took the “waiting” process and finally made the minister decide to postpone the decision.

Finally, once again, I asked a senior executive why the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology went to the last minute while learning about policy issues.

This is the answer.

(Executive of MEXT)
“If you say that, there are no more words. As political leadership advances, we need to rethink our way of thinking as a bureaucracy ...”

This issue, we will continue to cover thoroughly. Please send your opinions and information.

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Social Department Reporter Soichiro Itsumi Joined 2011. After working at Kushiro and Nagasaki stations, he moved to the social department. The third year in charge of the Ministry of Education.

Social Department Reporter Kota Suzuki Joined in 2011. After working at Sapporo and Muroran stations, he mainly covered the incident as the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in 2016. In charge of Ministry of Education from this summer.