A new system that would let schools write learning plans and grade children who refuse to attend class is being considered for the next national curriculum guidelines, which take effect in stages from fiscal 2030. The education ministry plans to set conditions on which children qualify. Parents of children who have been through school refusal say the line is unfair.
The ministry's plan would cover mainly elementary and junior high students who attend education support centers inside or outside school and who are judged to be in a state where they can face learning. The national network of parents' groups, the nationwide liaison council on school refusal and non-attendance, held a press conference in Tokyo on the 2nd. It has close to 600 members and links parents' groups around the country.
The council sent the ministry its views after the ministry sought public comment on the direction of the new guidelines. It said the system would reach only some children, those able to step a little outside the home. Many children cannot leave the house at all, it said, and are at a psychological stage that comes before learning.
“Drawing a line that helps only the children who show willingness leaves the children who are suffering most behind.”the liaison council
The council also said that while the guidelines as a whole are being drafted around inclusion of diversity, creating a separate special curriculum could push in the opposite direction, toward exclusion.
Hisashi Baba, a specially appointed professor of educational psychology at Nihon Pharmaceutical University who works with the council as a researcher, said it is easy to imagine teachers, meaning well, urging children who are still recovering to study. Some children respond to an invitation to learn, he said, but the prospect of many others being hurt further cannot be ignored.