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1 | Another Rural Japanese Elementary School Disappears Due to Declining Birthrate | 少子化で消えゆく里山の小学校 |
2 | Image of another site in Ibaraki prefecture where school had closed. Photo taken in 2008 by Yuko Aoyagi. | 数年前廃校になった、ある里山の小学校。 |
3 | Covered in snow, there used to be a public elementary school. There are nine students in all. | 広々した校庭に雪が降る。 |
4 | Community residents and the students know each other by name, and local farmers help students to grow vegetables in their schoolyard. The students carefully package their crops and sell them by themselves at the morning farmers market. | 茨城県、2008年。 |
5 | This small public elementary school in rural village of Takaoka [ja], a mountainous area of Toyama prefecture, the only one providing unique education in a sparsely populated area, is closing next March[ja] because no more children are expected to enroll. | 撮影:Yuko Aoyagi |
6 | Every year, about 500 public schools [ja] in Japan take the same path as Takaoka Municipal Nishihirotani School: closure due to a shortage of children. | 全校生徒9名。 |
7 | Japan's declining birthrate with the exhaustion of domestic rural labor power are hitting rural villages hard. | 地域住民とも名前で呼び合い、彼らの助けで学校で野菜を作る。 |
8 | And the cost of education per student is practically not affordable for rural public schools to operate. | 自分たちで丁寧に袋に詰め、朝市で売る。 |
9 | While local residents make efforts to keep schools afloat, many of them are forced to close. Takaoka Municipal Nishihirotani School, which celebrated its 120th anniversary last year, is located about 30 minutes by car from the center of the city. | 小さな学校ならではの教育をしてきた、ある過疎地の公立小学校が、保護者らの存続活動もむなしく、今年度を最後に廃校になる。 |
10 | It once had an adequate 47 students in 1988 [ja], but has continued to dwindle since. | 富山県の高岡市立西広谷小学校は昨年で創立120周年、高岡市中心部から車で約30分の山間部にある。 |
11 | After community residents fought for its continuance in 2009, the school applied for Special Unrestricted Small School program [ja] in order to enroll more students from outside its school district. Usually, Japanese elementary schools accept students from within walking distance of their school district. | 児童数は1988年には47人だったが、その後減り続け、地元住民が存続活動を行なった結果、2009年に地元以外の児童を受け入れる制度「小規模特認校」の適用を受けた。 |
12 | The Special Unrestricted Small Schools program is a system which removes the district restriction for schools in which the number of children enrolled is extremely low so that they can continue operation. | この制度によって、通学区域外の市内全域から希望者を募り、数家庭が保護者の送り迎えで通学している。 |
13 | Thanks to adoption of this system, children from the entire area of Takasaki City have been accepted at Takaoka Municipal Nishihirotani School, and some parents drive to drop off and pick up their children from outside of the school district. | 豊かな自然環境の中で地域住民に支えられながらの少人数教育では、市街地の学校では考えられないような独自の体験ができ、児童や保護者の満足度は高かった。 |
14 | With small class sizes, a rich surrounding natural environment, and support from the community residents, the school offered the students original experiences that would never be possible in urban schools. Both students and parents were highly satisfied. | しかし、2014年3月に通学区域内の児童が全て卒業してしまい、新たな入学予定の児童もいないことを理由に、高岡市教育委員会は2012年9月10日の臨時会で、この小学校の廃止を決定した。 |
15 | However, it did not stop the school from closing. The Takaoka City Board of Education decided to close [ja] the Nishihirotani school during an extraordinary meeting on September 10, 2012. | 古来、日本は農業国で、この小学校のような里山の風景は全国いたるところで見られた。 |
16 | The reason stated was that all the children within the school district will have graduated by March 2014, and no new students are expected to enter from the area. | 戦後、高度成長期を経て人口は都市に集中し、農山村の人口は減り続けている。 |
17 | The closure of the Nishihirotani school is a symptom of the country's population shift to cities as well as the declining birth rate. Japan had been an agricultural country since ancient times, and rural villages with farming population, such as those in the area around the Nishihirotani school, were seen everywhere in the country. | また子供の数が少ない少子化は大きな社会問題であり、年少人口率は13.1%と、世界主要国の中でも最低である。 |
18 | After the Second World War, and throughout the period of high economic growth, the population became increasingly concentrated in cities and declined in rural areas. | 少子高齢化は全国的な傾向だが、農村部ではその傾向はさらに著しい。 |
19 | The declining birth rate producing fewer children is a serious social issue for Japan: Its young population percentage, being 13.1 percent [ja], is the lowest among major nations. Although the declining birth rate and aging population are a national trend, the effect is more pronounced in rural areas. | 一方で、小中学校におけるいじめや自殺・不登校は、近年全国的に大きな社会問題となっている。 |
20 | On the other hand, schools in urban areas have their problems too. Bullying, suicide and truancy in elementary and middle schools also have been serious social issues throughout Japan in recent decades. | 市街地の学校では子供あたりの先生の数も少なく、地域の大人とのつきあいは希薄で、同じ年齢の子どもが30~40人の集団で毎日過ごす中、つきあいのストレスも大きい。 |
21 | In urban public schools, there are far fewer teachers per student, and not many opportunities to interact with adults in the community. | 子ども自身が社会で何らかの役割を果たし誇りを覚える機会は少なく、遊びの種類もゲーム・ネットなどの閉鎖的な遊びが主流を占める。 |
22 | When 30 to 40 students of the same age spend every day in class, it becomes stressful for children, and not all of them get along with each other. | こういった社会環境も問題の原因のひとつと考えられている。 |
23 | With more time occupied in specialized schools known as cram schools, they have little occasion to play their own role in society with pride, and even during playtime they may prefer to play in unsocial ways, such as with video games or Internet. | この小学校のような小規模特認校では、先生の目が児童に行き届き、地域の住民と児童が密接に触れあい、いろいろな年齢の子が一緒になって自然の中で遊ぶ。 |
24 | These social environments are considered to be one cause for problems in schools. | 不登校に陥った子どもたちが自分らしさを取り戻せる場としても期待する声がある。 |
25 | Small class sizes in rural villages seem to provide the exact opposite environment. In Nishihirotani school, teachers watch students carefully, residents are in close contact with students, and children of various ages play together in the midst of nature. | 過疎地の小学校の存続に希望を与え、都市部で不登校に悩む家庭にも一筋の光となる小規模特認校制度だが、教育行政にとっては1人あたりのコストが非常に高く、財政上のお荷物となる。 |
26 | Some believe these schools are a place where truant children might be able to feel at ease and express their own identities again. | 市教委は2012年6月、学校廃止を検討するため通学区域審議会を招集した。 |
27 | The Special Unrestricted Small Schools system gives hope for the continuance of elementary schools in depopulated areas, and is a ray of light for families troubled with truant children in urban areas. | 審議会は学校運営経費の他、地元児童がいなくなると地域住民の協力が得にくいことを問題視した。 |
28 | However, the system is a financial burden to the educational administration because of the high cost per student. In June 2012, the City Board of Education convened [ja] a school district deliberative council. | 地域住民や保護者らは存続を求め、地域人口270名を上回る409名分の署名を集めて市長と教育長あてに提出したが、審議会はそれを全く顧みることなく、7月23日に小規模特認校制度の廃止を答申。 |
29 | During the meeting, they examined the cost, and showed concerns that even if the school continued inviting new children from other areas, it would be difficult to gain support from local residents once there were no children from local families. | 市教委は答申を受け、8月30日の定例会で小規模特認校制度の廃止を決定、さらに、保護者らに知らされずに開催された9月10日の臨時会で、小学校の廃校を決定した。 |
30 | In response, community residents and parents quickly collected 409 signatures in a petition for the school's continuation, more signatures than the regional population of 270 persons. | 保護者の一人karisumasuuさんは自身のブログで、この決定過程に憤る。 |
31 | It was to be submitted to the mayor and the superintendent of education, but the council did not consider the petition at all, and submitted a recommendation a month later on July 23 to close the school [ja]. | これまで教育委員会と保護者との間で話し合いが幾度と行われ、署名活動もやり、最後は教育長まで引きずり出しましたが本当の教育よりも金ありきの教育委員会の方針は変わらず2年後国吉小学校と統廃合されることとなりました。 |
32 | Following the recommendation, the Board decided to close the school during the meeting on September 10, held behind closed doors, without informing the parents about the meeting. One of the parents, “karisumasuu”, expressed dissatisfaction with the decision process on his blog[ja]: | >校長、教頭、現場の先生も絶賛のこの小学校、教育委員会は現場の先生に事情を聴くこともありませんでした。 |
33 | Many meetings between the Board and the parents, the petition campaign, and finally appeals to the superintendent of education couldn't change the Board's policy of preferring money to true education. | 高岡市内のコミュニティハウス「ひとのま」スタッフも、この決定に異議を唱える。 |
34 | The school will be abolished, and consolidated with Kuniyoshi Elementary School two years later. | 「子供にとって必要な教育とはどういうものなのか」ということを本当に考えなくてはいけないのは教育委員会や審議会ではない。 |
35 | Though the school has been highly praised by the principal, vice principal, and teachers in the district, the Board never held a hearing with the school teachers of the district. Staff members of Community House Hitonoma, a group of facilitators and citizens working to bring the community together in Takaoka City, also opposed this process: | 子育てを行っている当事者である親や、 子供たち本人たちであり、 実際に関わっている教員であり、 地域の大人たちであり、 私たち市民ひとりひとりであるはずだ。 |
36 | It must not be the Education Board, nor the deliberative council, who decide what is necessary education for children, | 我々が当事者として高岡の教育を考える機会を与えず、むしろ隠すようにひっそりと行う。 |
37 | but the parents who are raising children, the children themselves, | そのことが高岡市の教育環境にいい影響を及ぼすプロセスだとは思えない。 |
38 | the teachers who work in the field, the adults in the community, and each of us, citizens. Instead providing us an opportunity to discuss education in Takaoka city, the decision was made silently, as if to conceal it. | 「ひとのま」では去年9月、西広谷小学校の保護者の話を聞く会「学校を考える」を開催した。 |
39 | I don't think that is good process to make changes affecting the educational environment in Takaoka City. Even though it won't change the school's closure, local members and parents are keen to keep the spirit of the school alive. | また保護者のKodamaNorikoさんやSanoRieさんらは、今年9月のNPO法人「富山・いたずら村・子ども遊ばせ隊」の講演会や、11月のFOUR WINDS乳幼児精神保健学会広島大会で、それぞれ場所を借りて特認校のことを発表した。 |
40 | In September 2012, Hitonoma held a “Think About School“[ja] meeting to hear stories from the parents of Nishihirotani Elementary School. | 発表用資料の中でこう訴える。 |
41 | Some parents, like Noriko Kodama and Rie Sano, have been taking such opportunities to let people know about the benefit of small school program. | 明るい挨拶やきれいな話し方が上から下へと受け継がれ、ルールも自然に学ぶ。 |
42 | They spoke at various events, including giving speeches during the intermission of the lecture seminar held by “Toyama Itazura-mura Kodomo-Asobase-Tai' [ja], a non-profit organization supporting parenting, in September 2013, and at the conference by Four Winds Association for Infant Mental Health [ja] in Hiroshima in November. | 上の子は助け教えることに誇りを持ち、下の子は上の子を信頼し憧れる。 |
43 | She insists, and shares one example of truant child's change after entering small school, in her presentation document [ja]: | […]伸びて育つ子どもの姿を逃さず語りかけ、文章で表し、認められほめられる喜びを子どもたちに伝える大人たち。 |
44 | Younger children inherit cheerful greetings and a polite manner of speaking from elder children, they learn rules naturally. The elder are proud to lead the younger, and the younger trust and admire the elder. […] | 口々に「いい学校」と言われ、この学校で学べてよかったと信じる子が育っている。 |
45 | Parents won't lose opportunities to talk to, write to, and convey the joy of being accepted and praised to, the growing children. | 前の学校を休み続けた子に笑顔が戻り、緊張で声が出なかった子が転校して大声で話す。 |
46 | When they hear the praise “What a wonderful school!” from many people, children grow up with a belief that they should be happy to study at that school. | 集団になじめず自信を失っていた子が大役を果たす。 |
47 | Children who were truants at their former school start smiling again. | 先生たちもみずみずしい心で教える楽しさを取り戻す。 |
48 | They regain the voices which they had lost due to stress, and speak loudly after transferring schools. | 小さな学校にこそ豊かな育ちがある。 |
49 | Children who found it hard to adapt to their group, and had lost self-confidence, now play an important role at their school. Teachers regain the feeling of enjoying teaching with a fresh mind. | […]子供達の周りに先生や地域の方や親がいて、子供達自身が小さな村社会を作り、時には葛藤を通じて、悩み、傷つき、そして生きる力を育み、大きな社会に出る準備をすること、それが教育ではないでしょうか。 |
50 | It's a small school where you can see rich growth. […] “Being watched over by teachers, community residents and parents, children themselves make a small society, may sometimes be in trouble or hurt through conflicts, develop their viability, and prepare to go out into a larger society. | KodamaNorikoさんらは、廃校跡に「子どもが行きたいと親にせがむような学校」「不登校・発達障害の子にも対応する、特認校型の公設民営の小中一貫校」を新設したいという夢を持っている。 |
51 | That is true education, isn't it? Noriko Kodama has a dream to make a new school at the site of closed school where “children would pester their parents to go to”, and accessible for children including mentally challenged and truant children with hybrid of public construction and private management for a consistent education for elementary and middle school. | 『生きる力』を育む教育は、今や日本では許されない贅沢なのだろうか。 |
52 | Update:Images of the school has been replaced due to request by author and parties involved. | このように廃校になる公立学校は、日本全国で毎年500校程度になる。 |