TOKYO - Education Minister Yohei Matsumoto said on May 22nd that Doshisha International High School's planning, on-site response and safety management during a study trip to Okinawa were "grossly inappropriate," placing extremely heavy responsibility on the school and its operator after two small boats carrying students capsized off Henoko in Nago, killing a student and a captain.
The accident occurred on March 16th in the waters off Henoko, where construction is under way for the relocation of the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. Two small boats carrying students from the Kyoto Prefecture school were struck by large waves and capsized, throwing 21 people into the sea.
Tomoka Takeishi, a 17-year-old second-year student at Doshisha International High School, and Hajime Kanai, the 71-year-old captain of one of the boats, died in the accident. Fourteen people were injured, including 12 students.
The students had been visiting Okinawa as part of the school's peace education program. One of the boats involved in the accident, Fukkutsu, had routinely been used in protests against the Henoko base construction project.
The school had said it did not regard the trip as involving students boarding protest boats because the vessels were not being operated for protest purposes during the excursion. However, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology rejected that explanation in the results of its investigation released on May 22nd.
According to the ministry, a considerable number of teachers were aware that Kanai regularly took part in protest activities and that the boats were used to carry participants in demonstrations. Despite that knowledge, the school incorporated a boat-based observation program related to the protests into its study trip.
Takeishi's family said they had never been informed that she would board a vessel used in protest activities. Her mother visited the Henoko fishing port two days after the accident, where the capsized boat had been brought ashore, calling out to her daughter in grief. Takeishi, who had reportedly been looking forward to seeing Okinawa's beautiful coral reefs, later returned home with her family by plane.
The ministry also found serious failures in the school's supervision of students. Eighteen students were aboard the two boats at the time of the accident, while only one teacher had been assigned to accompany them. That teacher did not board either vessel, citing poor health and a tendency to suffer from motion sickness.
The ministry said it was self-evident that sufficient teaching staff should have accompanied the students, describing the absence of any teacher aboard the boats as a serious error of judgment. It also said the school had failed to establish a system for responding to an emergency in the event that teachers were unable to accompany students.
The school also failed to adequately explain the boat activity and its risks to students and parents before the trip, according to the ministry.
The investigation further found that the school had not carried out an advance inspection of the boat activity at any time since students began boarding the vessels in 2023. The explanation differed from statements made at an earlier news conference, when the school said it had not conducted a preliminary inspection only in the current year.
The ministry said teachers should have boarded the boats in advance to confirm safety conditions and carefully assess whether the activity was appropriate for students.
Safety management failures were also identified on the day of the accident. The school was unaware that a wave warning had been issued and had not adequately monitored local sea or weather conditions. It also had no contingency plan for changing or cancelling the activity in the event of bad weather.
The school acknowledged that it had not instructed students on how to properly wear life jackets. The ministry said this showed that adequate safety education had not been provided beforehand.
In addition, the school said it had failed to sufficiently analyze the risks associated with boarding the boats. The ministry found that the school had not confirmed whether the vessels were properly registered under the Marine Transportation Act, nor had it adequately examined the boats' design, safety risks or suitability for transporting students.
Under the law, vessels transporting passengers in response to demand must be registered as a business, regardless of whether payment is received. Neither Fukkutsu nor the other capsized boat, Heiwa Maru, had the required registration.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said it had confirmed that Kanai transported students from Doshisha International High School on six occasions over three years, excluding last year, and had received payments from the school. The ministry filed a criminal complaint against the late captain on suspicion of violating the Marine Transportation Act.
The education ministry also questioned whether the school's peace education program maintained political neutrality. The school had argued that its overall peace studies curriculum throughout the year remained politically neutral, but the ministry found that study trip materials used between 2015 and 2018 included documents encouraging participation in sit-in protests organized by a group opposing the Henoko base construction project.
Matsumoto said the program violated Article 14, Paragraph 2 of the Fundamental Law of Education, which prohibits schools from engaging in political activity in support of or opposition to a specific political party.
The ministry issued a guidance notice to Doshisha and Doshisha International High School, concluding that the school's safety management and educational activities were grossly inappropriate and that responsibility rested heavily with both the school and its operating corporation.
Kyoto Governor Takatoshi Nishiwaki also said the prefecture would consider reducing private-school subsidies for Doshisha International High School because of the legal and administrative issues identified in connection with the accident.
Nishiwaki said subsidy rules clearly provide for reductions in cases involving violations of laws and regulations, adding that the matter would have to be examined. He also said that, at the present stage, the prefecture may have little choice but to consider a reduction in funding.
Source: ABCTVnews
