Uprising against Japanese school regulations

In Japan, each school institution has its own code, but the strict rules of some schools that impose everything from head to toe are subject to criticism and lawsuits.

Toshiuki Kusumoto, the father of two children from the southwestern city of Oita, went to court to protect his youngest son from school rules, which described him as “irrational”.

The rules, among other things, relate to the prohibition of hair length, ponytails, headbands and low socks, impose an obligation that the lace of the shoelaces must be white.

“This type of school regulation violates the respect for individual freedoms and human rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Kusmoto, who is a professional lawyer and hopes that the norms will be revised, told AFP.

Reforms are already underway in Tokyo, and it has recently been announced that from April strict regulations on issues such as hair coloring in the capital's public schools will be abolished.

- Student's misfortune -

This type of standard begins to be applied when students are around 12 years old.

Takashi Otsu, a professor of education at Mukogawa Women's University (West), appeared after the 1970s, saying that “violence against teachers became a social problem, and schools tried to control the situation through rules. ”

“Although certain types of standards are required (...) Transparency and ideally involving students to make decisions (...)”, he assures.

In 2017, a Japanese student from Osaka Prefecture (West) had to dye her hair black (which was naturally brown) and participated in the trial of this case, claiming compensation of 2.2 million yen (17,000 euros, 18,500 dollars) for psychological damage.

This issue had a great impact, and in 2021, the Ministry of Education ordered the Board of Education to ensure that school rules apply to real life.

However, the Court and the Court of Appeals ruled that the facilities may require students to darken their hair in case of “various educational” purposes.

Despite these decisions, the 22-year-old girl did not resign and filed an appeal to the Supreme Court last November.

- “that feeling of solidarity” -

Other measures have also been introduced, such as the petition sent to the Ministry of Education by the student branch of Voice Up Japan, a rights organization in January.

The Ministry of Education urges schools to encourage students to discuss changing standards.

16-year-old Hatsune Sawada, one of the students who promoted the initiative, said, “We started this campaign because some members had unpleasant experiences with school rules. ”

At Oita, public school students are required to wear different uniforms for men and women, and boys should wear pants and girls' skirts.

However, the Provincial Education Council affirms that these rules “allow not only to maintain a sense of unity among students, but also reduce the economic burden of buying clothes for families. ”

Kusumoto disagrees. “The feeling of unity has to be generated spontaneously, not imposed,” he said, “if you apply this type of rule,” the students will stop thinking,” he said.

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