Why the chaos?

Flags are flown at half mast to express condolences to the former prime minister.

This caused confusion in some educational settings in July.

Why?

A sudden notice from the Board of Education

July 12th morning.

The Board of Education of Suita City, Osaka, suddenly notified 54 elementary and junior high schools in the city of the document.

``I would like each school to raise the flag at half-mast as much as possible.'

' After the funeral of former Prime Minister Abe, who was held on this day, he asked for the national flag to be at half-mast to express his condolences. is.

Some schools actually lowered their flags to half-staff, but teachers on the ground have raised questions about how to respond.

A teacher in his 40s at an elementary school in Suita City said,

"When I learned about the notice, I asked the reason, but there was no explanation. If the state of the flag is different from usual, the child will ask questions, and the teacher will not be able to answer. "It's

natural to feel sad, but I was afraid that it would be implemented in the field without enough discussion and without knowing it. The Board of Education should think carefully before making a decision." I wanted it."

In Tondabayashi City, Osaka, a similar notice arrived at 24 schools in the city.

Most of the elementary and junior high schools in the city that received the notification have raised their flags at half-staff, but there are also voices of confusion here.

Principal of an elementary school in Tondabayashi City

"There are opinions from various positions, so when I received the notice, I felt that it would be a problem. However, if you do not follow the notice, you will be asked to explain why you are not doing it. Now that we have received the notice, we have no choice but to respond.”

What about flying the flag at half-staff?

Flying the flag at half-staff was originally a way of showing condolences on board ships, according to manufacturers who specialize in flags.

Tatsuo Kobayashi, President of Tokyo Seiqi Co., Ltd.

“Originally, it was customary to hoist a black sail on a ship as a ritual to show condolences, but it was inefficient to keep the black sail on board just for that purpose, so we used black cloth as a substitute. However, since it is difficult to see from a distance, it is said that gradually the flag was hoisted at half mast to show condolences,”

says Kobayashi. This spread and now it has become an international ritual to express condolences.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs website also introduces raising the flag at half-mast as a way to express condolences. At the official residence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is customary to fly flags at half mast."

Flags at half-mast at school What's wrong?

Flags at half mast have become a popular way to show condolences, but what's wrong with doing it in schools?

We asked Professor Emeritus Tetsuhiko Nakajima of Nagoya University, who is familiar with educational administration.

Professor Emeritus Nakajima

“The biggest problem is the possibility of violating ``political neutrality.'' When I was an elementary school student, there was a state funeral for former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, and a mourning flag was raised and a moment of silence was observed at school. Even though I was a child, I had the impression that he was a respectable person. I think it's a big problem because it could send out the message, 'He's a person to be admired.'

" The Fundamental Law of Education emphasizes "political neutrality" based on the idea that it is not appropriate to unilaterally give specific ideas and values.

Professor Emeritus Nakajima

``The Fundamental Law of Education stipulates that education must be conducted in a politically neutral manner.

In July, the board of education of Tondabayashi City, Osaka, which notified the flag to be raised at half-mast, said, ``We have no political intentions such as supporting a specific political party, but we are aware of the fact that it caused confusion at the school site. Regarding the national funeral, we will consider appropriate measures based on the Fundamental Law of Education."

On the other hand, the Board of Education of Suita City, Osaka, commented, "We have not evaluated this response in particular. We cannot answer whether it is a problem in light of the Fundamental Law of Education, as we have not considered it as an organization." doing.

Controversial at politicians' funerals in the past

In fact, the question of raising flags at half-mast at the funerals of politicians was discussed at the joint funeral of former Prime Minister Nakasone two years ago.

At this time, the government decided at a cabinet meeting to raise mourning flags at the government offices of each ministry and agency and observe a moment of silence in conjunction with the joint funeral (*1) (*2).

In response to this, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology issued a notice stating, "Please take care of me," to ▽ national universities, etc. informed the government's response.

Universities and boards of education across the country divided their responses, leading to a big debate.

It was pointed out that the notification issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology might violate the political neutrality of education, but then Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hagiuda said at a press conference, It does not violate the neutrality of education because it does not entail compulsion and does not assume that children and students are directly targeted."

*1 Funeral held jointly by the government and the Liberal Democratic Party

.

Flags raised at half mast one after another without notice from the government

However, this time, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has not issued a notice about raising the flag at half-staff (as of August 26).

Nevertheless, in Osaka, the Boards of Education of Suita City and Tondabayashi City urged elementary and junior high schools in the city to raise their flags at half mast.

When I interviewed the Board of Education about how the notice was issued, the following response was returned.

Suita City Board of Education

``We received a request from the general affairs department of the city to raise the flags at half-staff, and we were contacting each school as part of the work, so we just dealt with it mechanically.''

Tondabayashi City Board of Education

``The city's general affairs department.'' decided to raise the flags at half-mast and notified the school through the board of

education." In neither case was the decision made independently by the board of education. The content was notified to each school as it was.

On the other hand, Suita Mayor Keiji Goto said at a regular press conference on August 25, ``I would like to offer my condolences to the former prime minister, who was the head of the government and had the longest term of office, by raising the flag at half-mast as the same head of the government. The city and the board of education are two different things, and I just asked them to agree with me, and it was the board of education that actually sent the notice. It is."

There have been a number of cases where schools have been notified to raise the flag at half-mast at the funeral of former Prime Minister Abe, but the reasons are similar.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education, which urged all schools in the metropolitan area to raise flags at half-staff in conjunction with wakes and funerals, explained, "We just forwarded the notices in response to normal administrative communications, just like other departments within the agency."

The Sendai City Board of Education, which requested more than 180 schools in the city to raise their flags at half-mast, also said that the notification was made based on a request from the city's General Affairs Bureau.

In addition, the Kawasaki City Board of Education in Kanagawa Prefecture, which urged 175 municipal schools to raise their flags at half-mast, also notified the school that it received a document from the city requesting that the flags be raised at half-mast at public facilities.

``The role of protecting the school has not been fulfilled''

Professor Emeritus Nakajima of Nagoya University warns against the answer that the notice from the general affairs department was passed on to the school without sufficient discussion at the board of education.

Professor Emeritus Nakajima

``Originally, the board of education is an independent entity that is separated from the general affairs department, etc., and its role is to block when external requests are made for things that the school should not do. If the school is inadvertently informed about the situation, it cannot be helped even if it is said that it is not fulfilling its role, and the very reason for the existence of the board of education may be called into question.

” It would be inappropriate to give notice simply because it is one of the facilities,” and I think we should recognize once again that schools are places where political neutrality is particularly strongly required.”

What will happen with "state funeral"

Public opinion is divided on the state funeral to be held in September, and the government decided to postpone the "Cabinet approval" requesting each ministry to raise a mourning flag and pray silently. .

The government has a policy not to ask related organizations such as local governments and boards of education to cooperate in expressing condolences.

However, it is also true that local governments are making their own decisions and expressing their condolences, even though there is still no notification.

We will continue to cover how the educational field will respond to the national funeral in September.

(Osaka Broadcasting Station coverage team)

[Reference] Correspondence of boards of education and schools in Osaka Prefecture (NHK survey)

By August 26, NHK covered all 78 elementary and junior high schools in Suita City and Tondabayashi City.

We got responses from 38 schools, excluding 40 schools that could not respond because they "cannot answer" or "there is no responsible person."

It was raining on the day of the event, so it was possible to postpone the response, and it was confirmed that the flag was raised at half-mast at ▽ 5 schools in Suita City and ▽ 10 schools in Tondabayashi City.

All responses were in response to notifications from the Board of Education, and some responded that they had no choice but to comply with the notifications.

As of August 25, NHK was conducting a survey of the boards of education of 43 municipalities in Osaka Prefecture to determine whether to notify elementary and junior high schools to raise flags at half-staff at national funerals in September to express condolences.

All of them answered "undecided" or "will be considered if there is a notification from the government", and there was no board of education that had decided on the response.

The Osaka Prefectural Education Office said, "We have not received any notification from the government so far, so we are not considering any response."