Fukushima teachers’ union reveals problems facing young teachers, temps

 Ahead of the workshop for young teachers and temporary teachers hosted by of Fukushima Prefectural Teachers’ Union Youth Division in Koriyama City on Nov. 7 and 8, the youth leader, OSHIBE Kaori revealed the results of the survey conducted by the youth division.

  To the question, “do you think it’s possible to continue working as you do until the retirement age?” 32% said it’s possible, while 38% said they don’t think it’s possible and the rest said they didn’t know. Oshibe said the teachers are too busy working to improve education level and after-school club activities. She went around to more than 600 schools in the prefecture, where she couldn’t meet many young teachers who were “too busy to meet with her.” Next year, the government plans to introduce a new evaluation system. (By YUMOTO Masanori)

福島の青年、臨時採用教職員の実態は？～福島県教組 押部青年部長に聞く

 １１ 月７日、８日、福島県郡山市で「福島県教組青年部教育労働者研究集会、臨時採用教職員全県交流集会」が開催された。集会に先立って、押部香織青年部長（臨 時採用教職員部担当、障がい児教育部担当/写真）に話を聞いた。福島県教組青年部が行ったアンケートによると、「今のようなはたらき方を定年まで続けるこ とが可能だと思いますか」の問いに、「可能だと思う」が３２％、「可能だと思わない」が３８％、残りが「わからない」という回答があった。その原因を押部 さんは、「学力向上や部活などで、忙しすぎる状況が蔓延していること」をあげた。押部さんは、青年部長になって以降県内約６００校以上の公立学校現場をま わったが、「仕事が忙しくて面会できない」青年教職員もいたというほどだ。そして、来年度からは、新人事考課制度（業績評価制度）が本格実施する。（湯本 雅典） 

Striking Degradation in Education Environment: What's happening in schools in Fukushima?

Futaba-gun County of Fukushima Prefecture is located within 30 km distance from the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant. The residents had to evacuate after the devastating accident of March 2011. All the elementary and junior high schools in the county were closed then. When schools were reopened later either at the original schools or in the municipalities where the town/village offices moved to, only about 10% of children returned: Before the nuclear accident, a total of 6397 pupils were attending schools in 8 municipalities of the county, but only 657 returned to the reopened schools. Schools in Kawauchi-mura Village and Hirono-machi Town were reopened with the original buildings, but in other 6 municipalities, classes are still held in make-shift buildings  on premises of closed factories,  prefabricated buildings build beside damaged original school buildings or buildings of old schools that had been closed for some time before the accident. Children attending these schools are left in extraordinary poor education environment.  The teachers' union of Fukushima Prefecture is making much efforts to improve working conditions and education environments of schools in Fukushima, particularly those in Hamadori, the region closest to the crippled nuclear power plant. One of the executive committee members is responsible for issues related to the nuclear disaster. (By YUMOTO Masanori. Yomoto interviewed HINO Akira, the executive committee member of Fukushima Teachers' Union in charge of nuclear disaster related issues on Dec. 5. ) 
 Photo: HINO Akira

 福島県双葉郡の学校はどうなっているのか？～教育環境は著しく低下

福 島県双葉郡は、福島第１原発か２０ｋｍ、３０ｋｍ圏にあり、震災後は避難を強いられた地域である。郡内の小中学校は、震災直後は休校を余儀なくされた。そ の後は、役場機能が移転した先等で次々に開校した。再開後の児童、生徒数は８町村合計６５７名（震災前６３９７名）である。しかし学校再開といっても元の 学校での開校は８町村中川内村と広野町のみであり、ほかの町村では工場跡地利用、プレハブ校舎、廃校の跡地利用となり教育環境が著しく低下した中での開校 となっている。また、再開後の学校に戻った児童生徒数は、震災直前の１割程度となっている。福島県教職員組合では特別執行委員として「原発災害対策担当」 を置き、原発に至近距離の福島県浜通りの学校の労働条件、教育環境の改善に取り組んでいる。今回、原発災害対策担当の日野彰さん（写真）に双葉郡の学校の 現状を聞いた。（湯本雅典） 報告・動画（YouTube 4分）

Interview with a leader of a Fukushima teachers' union: "Our dedication was repaid with reduced wages, but we fought back and won!"

In FY2012, wages of national government employees were reduced by 7.8% in order to relocate fund to programs for reconstruction from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disasters. The pay cut was extended to local government employees in FY2013 and salaries of teachers and other personnel working for public schools in Fukushima Prefecture were reduced by 4.44 to 7.77% in July 2013. "The workloads of teachers and other school personnel have increased since the disasters, and they have been striving in difficult situations. The government is indebted to them and ought to have increased allowances. Instead, the government reduced their salaries. It is totally unacceptable," said ABE Akihiko (photo), the secretary general of Koriyama Branch of Fukushima Teachers' Union  in an interview conducted on December 12. 534 divisions of the union, including all the divisions of Koriyama Branch, adopted a resolution opposing to the pay cut. As a result, the government decided to discontinue it as of January 2014. (By YUMOTO Masanori) 

「恩を仇で返す給与カット」はね返す～福島県教組郡山支部・阿部書記長に聞く

 
政 府は2012年度から「復興財源の捻出」と称して実施してきた国家公務員給与の大幅カット（7.8％）を、今年は地方公務員にも断行した。その結果福島県 の教職員の場合、今年の7月から4.44％～7.77％の給与カットが強行されてきたのである。「震災以降学校現場は、仕事が増え大変な状況にあります。 その中で働く教職員に対し、手当増額を行うならともかく、給与カットを実施するなど『恩を仇で返す』以外の何物でもありません」と阿部書記長（写真）は 語った。福島県教組郡山支部では、「給与カット反対」の分会決議がすべての分会からあげられた。福島県内からは５３４分会から同様の決議があげられ、結果 給与カットは来年1月で打ち切られることとなった。（湯本雅典 /取材・12月12日）