Nagoya District Court rejects request for financial support to purchase suction equipment for junior high school student

By Barrier Free Japan with extracts translated from The Mainichi Shimbun

August 20 2020

NAGOYA -On August 19th in a lawsuit requiring the local government to pay a total of 3.3 million yen for purchase of suction equipment for a public junior high school, the Nagoya District Court’s presiding judge, Masaki Sumiya, said, “It cannot be provided.”

The high school student and his parents, who needs the suction equipment will appeal.

The student has a tube that secures his airway and needs to inhale sputum several times a day. His parents brought their own equipment to school every day from the time he entered elementary school until November of the fifth grade. The student expressed criticisms, saying that ““The only thing that brought me to school was discrimination against disabilities.” He claimed that it violated the law, which requires local governments to take reasonable care to remove social obstacles.

The judgment pointed out that the Board of Education has the discretion to decide the method when providing medical care at school. In addition, it was judged that “it is not unreasonable to ask parents for a certain amount of help, and it is not an excessive burden to receive safe care and education.”

The local government commented on the judgment, “We recognize that the assertion was accepted. We will continue to take appropriate measures.”