From me who couldn't go to school to you who suffer from truancy August 8 at 28:18

From a young age, I didn't like places with a lot of people. I like studying, but when I try to go to school, my body doesn't move. It's frustrating, I'm not normal, I'm a bad person. That's what I've been thinking about during my nine years of truancy.

But if I can encourage someone with this experience... This summer, I decided to take on a challenge.

What is the video championship that only truant students can participate in?

Itsuki (pseudonym), 17 years old, attends a correspondence high school in Saitama Prefecture.

In June, I learned that a tournament called the "Truant Video Championship" would be held at my school.

The theme is "From me who doesn't want to go to school to you who don't want to go to school".

It is said that an NPO that publishes a newspaper about truancy planned it for the first time with the cooperation of a company that operates a video distribution app.

The video is no longer than one minute and must be attended by people under the age of 1 who have experienced truancy.

The description of the tournament said that "the experience of truancy gives someone courage," and Itsuki, who had just started making videos as a hobby, decided to participate.

"I wonder if I can never be in such a circle ..." Nine years of truancy

Itsuki was born in the middle of three siblings who are close in age. From a young age, he was extremely shy and did not like places with many people.

When I was in elementary school, I encountered a classmate being angry with me by a teacher at school.

Even though I wasn't angry, I was so scared that I couldn't go to school before I knew it. He refused to attend school for nine years in elementary and junior high school.

I wanted to go to school because I liked studying. However, they will not be able to talk at school.

My siblings and I were close, so I wanted to go to school with them, so I asked my mother to tell me that I would be going to school the day before, and I got ready, and the next morning I went to the front door.

But I couldn't move from there.

Itsuki
: "I didn't know why, and I really wondered why I couldn't go, and I was a bad guy. There was also loneliness that I wondered if I was the only one who was wrong. When I saw children walking around on the way to the library and other places where they normally go to school, I thought, 'I wonder if I can never be in that kind of circle.'"

The work of "What's that?" that I felt while I was truant

In making this video, Itsuki decided to send a message to people who felt the same way as she did at the time.

I decided to express my experience in a trendy rhythm.

"Sometimes when I go to school, I say, 'Well, why am I here today?'" "I tried so hard to get to the school gate, but every time the teacher says, 'Let's go to the classroom,'

right?"

When I was truant, I was often hurt by casual words from those around me. So I wanted to tell them that it's okay to have doubts and not to get depressed.

Mr
. Itsuki: "At the time, there were a lot of things that I wondered why and I wondered if it was useless or if I was weird, but I thought that this was not the case, and that if I could tell that there were other people who thought so, it would make me feel a little better."

What I was too scared to ask

Now I have found a correspondence high school that suits me and have made friends through my hobbies. I make my own bento boxes to school.

When I tried cooking while I was absent from school, I was happy that my family was happy and I fell in love with cooking. It's one of the things I was good at when I was absent from school.

There is something that Mr. Itsuki has been worried about for a long time. What did her mother, who continued to support her, really think of herself for refusing to go to school? I was too scared to ask until now.

Ms
. Itsuki: "I thought that it was not good for me to not go to school, and I thought that my parents must think that it was not good.

However, let's take the opportunity of this video production to ask the question for the first time... If we try to put the answer to this question into a work, I wonder if something will reach parents and children who suffer from truancy.

After much distress, Itsuki decided to try an interview with his mother.

My mother's first thought came back to me.

On this day, I was on summer vacation.

Itsuki pointed his smartphone camera at his mother in the living room. I asked nervously.

Itsuki: Hey, Mom.

Mother: Yes.

Itsuki: What was the first thing I was worried about when I stopped going to school?

Mother: Uh-huh. I was worried that I would not be able to study with my school friends or learn what I could learn in a group.

Tree: Wow.

Mother: What bothered me more was whether it would have been better to force them to go to school. If I accompany her to school, I wonder if she will turn her feet even a little, or if something will change. However, I was very worried and conflicted that if I pushed my back and pulled my hand too much, the "I don't want to go" would become stronger.

This is the first time I have heard my mother's thoughts. Itsuki asked further.

Itsuki: Hey, what do you think about truancy?

Mother: No, I don't think so. Because whether you go to school or not, people don't change. I thought about it a lot and worried about it, but in the end, there were many things I could think about together because I was truant, and above all, I was by my side since elementary school. I'm happy just to be here, even just to be together. That's what I brought up.

Her mother answered openly as usual.

Itsuki said that he felt as if his feelings about truancy had been blown away.

Ms
. Itsuki: "I don't usually listen to my mother's true feelings, so it was good to be able to hear her true feelings. There was a part of me that felt negative about not going to school, but with this time, I don't think I will have to think negatively about it in the future."

Thoughts behind 352 videos

On the 18th of this month, the award ceremony for the "Truant Video Championship" was held.

352 works were collected from all over the country, and a total of more than 1000 million views were received, receiving a great response.

The works created by six elementary and junior high school students express their experiences of finding a place in a free school even though they could not go to school. It was selected as the grand prize.

"I gradually became unable to smile, it was the limit" "

I think it was right that I had the courage to choose not to go to school at that time, and that I chose a place other than school."

Itsuki's interview with his mother was commended by an organization made up of parents of children who refused to go to school.

Representative
of an organization made up of parents of children who refuse to go to school: "I had the same feelings as the mom in Mr. Itsuki's video. Thank you for making the video."

The award-winning films were screened at the venue, and the award winners proudly talked about the hardships and joys of the production on the stage.

Applause rang out each time, and some parents shed tears.

Ms
. Itsuki: "I was afraid to tell them what I had experienced and what I was thinking, but through this video championship, I really thought that it would be better to convey it. Some people saw the video and contacted me, and I was really happy that the video I made reached someone."

Itsuki says that this summer's experience has become irreplaceable.

I feel like I can say it with pride now.

When I was feeling overwhelmed at the time, I told myself, "It's okay, believe in yourself. If you choose to smile, the future will open up."

Chieko
Katsumata, a reporter
in the Social Affairs Department of the News Bureau, joined the Yamaguchi
Bureau and the Sendai Bureau before joining the current group. We conduct a wide range of interviews on children and education.

Good morning Japan director
Yuya
Higashi joined the Sendai
Bureau in Heisei 28 and the Politics and Economics and International Program Department before joining the current group. When I was in junior high school, there was a time when I didn't want to go to school because of relationship troubles.