Lawsuit over exclusion of Korean schools from Tuition-Free High School Education System: 340 cue to enter court gallery in Tokyo

The third hearing was held at the Tokyo District Court on Oct. 1 for the lawsuit where high school students of Tokyo Korean Junior and Senior High School are claiming state compensation for the damages caused by the exclusion of their school from the national system of free high school education. Before the start of the hearing at 10 am, some 340 people including teachers and students of the school, parents of the students, and supporters lined up outside the courthouse in rain to get tickets to enter the courtroom. For the first time for the case, the hearing was held in the largest room in the courthouse. Korean high schools are not provided government financial assistance applied to other foreign and international high schools from the High School Tuition Support Fund. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern on this situation in the concluding observations document of the periodic review for Japan conducted in Geneva, Switzerland  late in August, by stating that the legislative provisions and government's actions in Japan including the exclusion from the High School Tuition Support Fund and the suspension or continued decrease of funding allocated by local governments to Korean schools hinder the right to education of children of Korean origin and recommended the Japanese government to revise its position.  The long cue outside the courthouse could have reflected a widespread interest in this issue in the society. (By NISHIHANA Seiichiro)      

傍聴券もとめて340人～関心広がる東京朝鮮学校「高校無償化」裁判

１０月１日、東京地裁１０３大法廷で、東京朝鮮中高 級学 校に在籍する高校生への就学支援金不支給を巡る国家賠償請求訴訟の第三回口頭弁論が開かれた。 午前１０時前小雨の裁判所前には、今回初めて大法廷で行われる公判の傍聴券を求めて、同校の教員や生徒、保護者、支援者ら約３４０人が列 を作った。８月下旬にジュネーブで開催された国連•人種差別撤廃委員会の日本審 査で、朝鮮学校の「高校授業料就学支援金」制度からの除外や、その影響による各地方自治体の朝鮮学校への補助金の凍結や継続的な縮減に対 して、教育権を妨げる差別的な行政措置として懸念表明され、是正勧告が出された こともあり、裁判への関心の広がりが感じられた。（西中誠一郎）