Tochigi Prefectural Board of Education to abolish boarding schools for intellectually disabled children by the end of FY 2024

From the The Asahi Shimbun

July 14 2024

Tochigi Pref – The Tochigi Prefectural Board of Education has decided to abolish boarding schools at both Tochigi and Nasu special needs schools in March 2025. The decision was made public at an information session for parents that began on July 10th. These were the only two boarding schools for intellectually disabled children in the prefecture, so all such schools will be abolished.

Regarding the two boarding schools, the prefectural board of education notified parents in November 2021 and March 2023 that they would be closed. However, after parents began a petition campaign calling for their continued existence, it announced a postponement in December 2022. In August 2023, a “Study Group on the Future of Special Needs Education” was established by experts, and in March of this year it received a recommendation for “progressive dissolution.”

The prefectural board of education explained the initiatives it has taken since receiving the recommendation at an information session for parents that began on the 10th of this month.

According to the prefectural board of education, a survey was conducted in May of this year among parents of all 16 special needs schools in the prefecture, including schools for the blind, asking them from 15 options what they would like to see improved. The most popular response was “individual-specific, detailed guidance and support,” followed by “reorganization, such as the establishment of new special needs schools and branch schools and classrooms.” “Dormitories for special needs schools for the intellectually disabled” came in 11th place.

Based on the recommendations of the expert panel and the survey results, the prefectural board of education has decided to consider measures such as establishing an intellectual disability education department at Okamoto Special Needs School (Utsunomiya City), which caters to sickly children, setting up branch classrooms for the special needs school in vacant classrooms at elementary, junior high and high schools, renovating the cafeteria and life training facilities at the special needs school, and implementing overnight study trips during long school holidays. The board will also consider strengthening the “support system for children receiving medical care,” which was ranked 12th in the survey. At this point, the timing of implementation has not been made clear.

On the other hand, the boarding schools, which had been decided to be closed, were made clear that the deadline would be “the end of this fiscal year.”

A total of 41 students used the boarding schools at both schools in fiscal 2012. According to the prefectural board of education, school buses will be used from next fiscal year onwards. As for the 27 instructors from both schools who have been living with the students in the boarding schools and developing their abilities, they plan to transfer them to three boarding schools, including a school for the blind (Utsunomiya) and a school for the deaf (Utsunomiya), as well as 10 special needs schools for intellectually disabled children. If students employed as boarding school instructors work at schools that do not have boarding schools, the boarding school is considering whether to transfer them to a different position.

The expert panel listed “individual, detailed instruction” as one of the items to be considered. Parents of students at the boarding schools to be closed had complained that they could receive exactly this kind of instruction at the boarding schools.

Why close boarding schools that parents want to keep open? In an interview with a reporter, Naga Hiroyuki, deputy director of the prefectural board of education, had this to say:

“The direction we’re taking is to enable children to have experiences in the community rather than spending time with their peers at school after school. Casual, everyday experiences with the family, like going shopping with their parents, are important. Children at normal schools spend their after school hours in the community or at home.”

When a reporter asked, “Isn’t it enough for children to go shopping with their parents on the weekends when they come home from the boarding school?” Deputy Director of Education Naga replied, “Because there are some areas in which we must aim in that direction in the future, if we rebuild a boarding school that is 40 years old, it will mean that the boarding school will continue to exist for the next 40 years.”

At a regular press conference on the 10th of this month, Governor Fukuda Tomiichi said, “In the survey, boarding schools came in 11th place. In response, we have decided to convey the prefectural board of education’s thinking on closing them. It is true that there are groups and prefectural residents who want them to remain open. I believe that the prefectural board of education will continue to deepen discussions and make efforts to gain understanding.”