Une vague de suicides d’élèves victimes de brimades a suscité une vive émotion au Japon. 
 Comme dans de nombreux pays, les brimades entre élèves existent depuis des temps immémoriaux au Japon. 
Mais l’importante médiatisation d’une récente vague de suicides (pas moins de sept adolescents harcelés par leurs camarades de classe se sont suicidés depuis la rentrée scolaire) a suscité une vive émotion dans l’opinion. 

Aussi le gouvernement du Premier ministre Shinzo Abe a-t-il annoncé sa volonté de combattre ce problème dans le cadre de la grande réforme de l’éducation actuellement mise en œuvre. 

Le conseil chargé de l’organisation de la réforme a ainsi suggéré de responsabiliser davantage les enseignants et les directeurs d’écoles pour les actes de brimades perpétrés à l’intérieur de leurs établissements scolaires. 

Mais pour de nombreux acteurs de l’éducation, les enseignants ne peuvent que difficilement gérer le problème de la violence scolaire en raison de la rigidité du système éducatif. 
Concentrés sur la réussite des élèves aux examens et submergés par la paperasserie, les enseignants et les directeurs n’ont guère le temps de détecter et de combattre les violences dont sont victimes certains élèves. 

Le manque de financement est également mis en avant par certains spécialistes comme le professeur Hirota de l’université Nihon. Le Japon, explique-t-il au Financial Times, ne dépense guère plus de 3,5% de son PIB pour l’éducation tandis que les pays européens dépensent en moyenne 5% de leur PIB pour ce secteur. 
Le professeur Hirota relativise toutefois la portée du problème : "Tous les dix ans, assure-t-il, le Japon voit la frénésie médiatique autour des brimades et des suicides d’adolescents".

By Mariko Sanchanta in Tokyo    November 30 2006

Last month a 13-year-old Japanese boy wrote a simple suicide note on a piece of crumpled paper. "Dear Mom and Dad," it read, "Sorry I was an inadequate child. Thank you for everything. I cannot live while being bullied."

Over the past two months, at least seven children in Japan have taken their own lives after being tormented by school bullies. The problem of ijime, or bullying, has long been a problem in Japan. But the spate of recent suicides, coupled with unyielding media coverage, has turned ijime into a national epidemic.
 

In response, a government advisory panel on education reform yesterday took the extremely rare step of releasing emergency proposals to address the problem.

The Education Rebuilding Council, in the presence of Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, urged local education boards to punish teachers who left bullying unchecked and called on schools not to cover up instances of bullying. The panel urged schools to "make clear its standards for punishment and to deal firmly with pupils who have bullied".

Mr Abe said: "We will carry out the measures immediately where possible. The government will take firm steps on its part."

The panel, composed of 17 individuals from government, business and academia, also made clear that school principals and teachers were primarily responsible for resolving bullying. It also said that ijime was grounds for a student to transfer schools.

"The first impression I had was that these measures are confused," said Manabu Sato, professor at the University of Tokyo's School of Education. "Schools have already undertaken most of these measures. There is a political reason behind this as well, because Abe's ratings have declined recently, in part due to the mass hysteria surrounding these suicides. In a sense, it is political propaganda."

Although bullying is by no means a phenomenon unique to Japan, the number of recent child suicides has raised questions about the country's educational system and the breakdown in family communication.

The education ministry has received 42 letters from children who complained of being bullied in the past three months. The writer of one such letter, received on November 6, threatened to commit suicide if officials did not respond in two days. The ministry took the unprecedented step of holding a press conference that morning on the issue.

Mr Abe's administration has made revising the education law its top legislative priority, in what would be the first full reform of the law in more than 50 years.

But critics have attacked its new bill for failing to address pressing issues such as bullying, school violence, students' refusal to attend classes, the failure of high schools to teach compulsory subjects and declining academic achievements. The new bill in essence calls for promoting patriotism in the classroom.

The education ministry, meanwhile, has responded by requesting more school counsellors, which should be approved by the end of the year when the government irons out its supplementary budget.

"Teachers these days lack the ability to keep abreast of the behavioural changes in children," says Yuko Kawanishi, a sociologist at Tokyo Gakugeidaigaku University. "But there is also clearly a family problem, with children unable to confide in their parents. The parents blame the teachers and vice versa."

Experts say the rigid structure of the country's educational system allows little room for harried teachers to detect problems among students. Rather, they are faced with trying to ensure that children pass exams and have to cope with increasing amounts of paperwork.

"Teachers are tied up with teaching the compulsory curriculum mandated by the government, coupled with increasing administrative tasks such as evaluations and meetings with the local boards of education," says Teruyuki Hirota, a professor at Nihon University. Prof Hirota notes that Japan spends only about 3.5 per cent of its annual gross domestic product on compulsory education, compared with 5 per cent for Europe.

Prof Hirota says that ijime is deeply entrenched in Japanese society and will not likely be solved, despite the government's efforts. "The child suicides, the media frenzy over ijime, this happens nearly every 10 years," he says.

Ces dernières années, une réforme du système éducatif japonais a été conduite avec l’objectif affiché de lâcher la pression pesant sur les élèves. 
Mais un sévère retour de bâton s’opère aujourd’hui, avec la bénédiction d’une partie de l’opinion. 

 M.Terawaki a quitté son ministère de l’Education en novembre 2006, après avoir mené une profonde réforme du système éducatif nippon. Ce personnage charismatique a rendu la vie plus légère aux élèves en réduisant les heures de cours, en délestant les manuels scolaires de 30% de leur contenu et en supprimant l’école le samedi, entre autres mesures. 
Un tournant spectaculaire pour le Japon, habitué à ne considérer que la valeur du travail et de l’effort. Mais KenTerawaki avait tenté d’expliquer à ses contemporains que "les temps avaient changé, et que [le Japon] avait besoin d’un système éducatif qui aide les jeunes à développer leur individualité". 
Le ministre avait également introduit des cours permettant aux élèves de formuler des projets de recherche personnels. En quelques années, les jeunes Japonais ont commencé à s’investir dans des activités humanitaires, à exprimer leur opinion et à créer, pour les plus âgés, des entreprises. 

Cependant, dès 2003, l’étude Pisa a pointé le déclin des performances des élèves nippons. En mathématiques, ils étaient passés de la première à la sixième place du classement international. 
Fin 2005, le gouvernement a décidé de revenir à un enseignement plus corsé et vers le principe absolu de la performance avant tout. 
Un Conseil de "reconstruction" de l’Education a vu le jour, avec pour mission d’améliorer les résultats des élèves et la qualité des enseignants. Il est également chargé de "restaurer la discpline en classe et d’insuffler aux jeunes la notion de patriotisme". 

M.Terawaki, remercié, a refusé un poste de complaisance et qualifie la politique de l’éducation actuelle de "retour au Japon du 20ème siècle". Lui qui justifiait sa réforme par la nécessité d’un Japon moderne, éclairé et créatif à l’aube du 21ème siècle.
 

By AKEMI NAKAMURA  Friday, Jan. 5, 2007

2005, however, saw a policy shift and the start of a push to again reform the education system and bring back heavier coarse loads amid public criticism that the changed system wasn't working. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who took office in September, is championing this campaign.

But Terawaki, 54, who quit the ministry in November, is not buying into Abe's reforms and still believes an unhurried approach is the best way to build a more mature society, even though parents and others have been complaining about what they see as declining student performance.

"The uniform education system was effective in producing people who could support Japan's rapid economic growth," Terawaki said. "But the times have changed. We need a system that helps children establish their individuality."

In 1987, after three years of discussions, a government panel on reform proposed relaxing the education system, which for a century had placed emphasis on uniform rote learning.

The new system was deigned to motivate children to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and flexibility to live in Japan in the 21st century -- a time of globalization, advanced high technology, widespread information networks and an aging society.

Class hours for core subjects -- Japanese, mathematics, social studies, science and English -- were gradually reduced. In 2002, Saturdays were dropped from the school week and textbook content was cut by 30 percent to round out the relaxed system. Schools introduced "comprehensive studies" courses that allowed students to carry out their own research projects.

"It's natural that children in a rich society lose motivation to learn. So the comprehensive studies course is offered to stimulate children's curiosity through academic projects," Terawaki said, noting that because kids have no Saturday classes, they can have more time to spend with their families and friends and to engage in other pursuits, including sports, music and art.

The relaxed system bore other fruit -- more youths got involved in volunteer activities, began actively expressing their opinions and started up businesses, he said.

"I realize parents want their children to have better academic foundations. But if children devote themselves only to studying, can they become attractive adults?" Terawaki asked.

"People used to feel they had a happy life if they went to a good school and landed a job at a good company. But that formula no longer works," said Terawaki, himself of an elite background. The Fukuoka native went from the prestigious La Salle High School in Kagoshima to the University of Tokyo before he became a high-ranking education ministry bureaucrat.

In the relaxed system's fall from favor, parents and business circles point to data showing deteriorating academic achievements. The 2003 Program for International Student Assessment test by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development showed Japanese 15-year-olds fell from the top spot for math in 2000 to sixth place and fell to 14th from eighth in reading.

To improve academic levels, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry plans to introduce nationwide academic achievement exams in April, the first such tests in 40 years.

Local governments have meanwhile been trying to fuel competition by introducing a system under which children and their parents can select their school of choice.

But Terawaki feels excessive concerns over children's academic performances are unnecessary because education has changed from merely requiring students to memorize history, kanji and English vocabulary into a system that encourages youths to think about pertinent issues and express their opinions logically.

But Abe is pursuing a different course. He formed the Education Rebuilding Council with the goal of improving students' academic levels and the quality of teachers. He is also bent on restoring discipline in the classroom and instilling a notion of patriotism among the nation's youth.

Terawaki is skeptical of Abe's reform push.

"Abe wants to make Japan 'a beautiful country' that respects its culture, but it contradicts business circles' demand for (young people) who will pursue economic development," he said. "I wonder if those who criticize the relaxed education system have conservative, nationalistic views and yearn for (a return to) 20th century Japan?"

Last March, after reaching the limit of promotions, Terawaki was asked to leave the ministry in line with long-standing bureaucratic practice. The education minister asked him to stay on, which he did even though he had to take a demotion.

When he quit in November, after Bunmei Ibuki became education minister in September, Terawaki, not following usual bureaucrat practice, refused to take an "amakudari" job, or golden parachute post in the private sector or at a public organization.

"I loved working for the education ministry. I did not want to work anyplace else," said Terawaki, who now accepts freelance jobs as an education and movie critic.

A frequent moviegoer, taking in than 10 films a month, Terawaki is an advocate of cultural power. While working as a bureaucrat, he often reviewed films for magazines and wrote books on cinema.

"I've always been interested in nurturing culture through education because cultural wealth, like economic indicators, can be an indicator to show (the maturity) of a society," said the confessed aficionado of "manga" cartoons and "rakugo" traditional comic storytelling.