住民パワー・People's power
肉体的・精神的に安全な環境を学生全員に提供するのは教育行政の最低レベルの義務だと思う。おそらくこれは税金を収めている保護者全員の願いでもあるでしょう。 学校での「教育環境の安全対策」として真っ先に思い付くのは「耐震補強工事」だ。ある教育委員会に確認したら1棟当たりおおよろ1~1.5億円かかるそうだ。ほとんどの都道府県や市町村教育委員会が数年計画でいま実施されていて、2~3棟ある学校では4~5億円の費用が必要だが財政難で必要な予算が付かないという話は聞いたことがない。どこの議員も反対しない。学校毎の保護者からの要望がなくても行政が計画的に進めているケースが圧倒的に多い。 但し、耐震補強工事はあくまでも保険的な要素が強いもの(つまり、もし地震が起きたら子どもが安全だ)。 もうひとつの対策は校庭芝生化だ。文部科学省もこれについての意見をまとめていて、基本的には肯定的であり、進めていく方針を打ち出している。小中校庭芝生化をするに必要な予算が1千万円前後と仮定しよう。検討する段階になったら、行政サイドでスポーツトトだの、国の補助金だの、何制度だの、予算確保についての見事な議論が展開される。又は、保護者からの要望がなくては実施できないという意見がしばしば出る。積極的に推し進める議員もそれほど多くないのが現場だ。ゼロではないが少ない。 保険的要素の強い耐震補強工事と違って、設置した時から冒頭で指摘したように、肉体的にも精神的にも子供たちがその恩恵を受けることが証明済み。 整理するとこうなります。教育環境を改善する案が二つある。 片方が数億円単位のお金が必要で効果が出るのは地震があるときのみ。 もう片方は数十分の一の予算で実施可能であり、初日からその効果で出る。 にも拘わらず、多くの行政では最初の対策にさっさと取り組み、後の方はがんとし動こうとしない。 すぐにでも実施できる体制が出来ている地域でもこの有様。 理解出来ない。 ここで必要なのは保護者からの声だ。エジプトやチュニジアでは民衆が動いて、政府が崩れる。 自分の子どもが通っている小学校がまだ土で、芝生の保育園で味わった芝生を小学校でも必要だと思っている保護者への願いだ。貴方達が本当に子どもに芝生の校庭が必要だと信じているならば、毎日でもいいから、地元の教育委員会へその旨を伝えてくれ。メール、郵送、電話、ファックス、訪問、あらゆる手法を使ってだ。止めてくれと頼まれてもそれでも続けるのだ。 貴方達の税金で貴方達が求めている教育環境を貴方達の子供に提供してもらうのは貴方たち親としての義務・責務・責任です。 I firmly believe that one basic duty of the Ministry of Education is to provide a safe environment for all pupils, both physically and mentally. I suspect that every tax-paying parent has the same request. The first measure to ensure this that springs to mind is the work to ensure school buildings can withstand earthquakes. A source at one Education Board told me that the cost of one building was JPY100~150m. Almost every education board is currently embarked on this project and, despite a cost per school of JPY400~500m (assuming 2~3 blocks per school), I have never heard a single case of the necessary funds not being made available. No councillor would ever block this sort of work. I remind readers that in almost every case this work has been undertaken without specific requests from the parents at that school. Let it be noted that reinforcement for earthquakes is like taking out insurance: it is only useful if there is an earthquake. One other measure that springs to mind is grass playgrounds. The Ministry of Education has clarified its view, being basically positive and recommending the introduction of grass to school grounds. Let us assume that it would cost JPY10m per school to do this. When a local education board starts to consider this measure, all we hear is a twisted and prolonged debate over how to source the funds: subsidies from a sporting association, from the central government, through this system or that. Or we are often told that this is impossible without a direct request from the parents at each school. The reality is that very few councillors are aggressively pursuing the issue. There are a few but far too few. Unlike the "insurance policy" earthquake reinforcement construction, grass playgrounds provide the physical and mental benefits mentioned at the start from Day One. This has been proven in multiple schools and kindergartens. To set the record straight, there are two measures on offer. One of them costs several hundred million yen per school and the benefits accrue only in case of an earthquake. The other costs well under one-tenth of this and offers benefits from Day One. Despite this, most local bodies aggressively embark on the former and at times refuse point-blank even to consider the latter. This is the case even where everything is in place to go ahead now. I am at a total loss. What is needed now is the voice of the people. In Tunisia and Egypt, the people spoke and governments fell. I implore all parents whose children have attended a kindergarten or playschool with a grass playground and who have now moved on to a primary school that has dirt grounds. If you really believe in your hearts that your children deserve a grass playground, then tell your local education board: use the phone, e-mail, fax, letter, visit them, and do it everyday until they beg you to stop. Then do it some more. Making sure that the taxes you pay are being used to provide the environment you desire is your duty, your responsibility, your obligation as a parent.