Evaluating Human Rights Education in Osaka Senior
Secondary Schools
Shinichi HayashiAssessment of students’ understanding of human rights has been
going on since 1980 through an association of educators in the
Osaka prefectural senior secondary schools. The association, currently known as the Osaka Prefectural Senior Secondary School Human
Rights Education Research Association (Furitsu Jinken), held its most recent
assessment exercise in 2010. The annual assessment is carried out mostly
during the first semester of the school term (April through June).
Furitsu Jinken1 was previously known as Fuko Doken (The Osaka
Prefectural Senior Secondary School Dowa Education Research
Association).2 Fuko Doken was founded in 1967 to study and develop Dowa
education3 in the prefectural senior secondary schools (including special
schools for students with disabilities) in Osaka. After the enactment of
the Human Rights Education and Enlightenment Act of 2000, Fuko Dokenchanged its name to Furitsu Jinken in 2002. Furitsu Jinken adopted a broader agenda by focusing on research and exchange of experiences not only on
the Dowa issue4 but also on human rights issues in general.
Furitsu Jinken has several sections and task-force groups. It has sections
on curriculum development, case studies, and career guidance. Its task-force
groups focus on developing teaching materials on ten human rights issues.5
It holds several exchange meetings in each school district. All public seniorsecondary school principals, vice principals and teachers in Osaka prefecture participate in the Furitsu Jinken activities. Furitsu Jinken provides its
members with the opportunity to exchange experiences and research results on human rights education including Dowa education. Furitsu Jinken
covers various issues including those related to teaching methods, students’voluntary activities, course guidance, in-service and pre-service training,
part-time and night schools, students with disabilities, multicultural education, and women’s liberation. Membership fees support the Furitsu Jinken
activities.

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Design of Survey Questionnaire
The then Fuko Doken developed a survey questionnaire in 1980 with thefollowing main aims:• To know the number of hours devoted to the teaching of the Dowa
issue in primary schools and junior secondary schools;• To know whether or not those issues were taught correctly;• To know how well the awareness of the Dowa issues of the first year
junior secondary students had improved before they entered thesenior secondary schools.
The survey questionnaire focused on the Dowa issue because of its significance in Osaka prefecture and in the country as well. A 1965 report6
explained the importance of the Dowa issue:
The Dowa issue is Japan’s most serious social problem since
it constitutes discrimination against a specific group of the nation’s people based on the historically-developed social classstructure. The people concerned are forced into an economically, socially and culturally inferior position, and face both grave
violations of their basic human rights and complete ignorance of
their civil rights and liberties, which [should] be fully guaranteed
to all Japan’s people as a principle mechanism of modern society.
The survey wanted to address the problem of schools that either refused
to teach the Dowa issue or incorrectly taught it despite the enactment in1969 of the Law on Special Measures for Dowa Projects.
First Revision of the Survey QuestionnaireLess than a decade later, in 1989, Fuko Doken revised the survey questionnaire by including more questions to cover other human rights issues besides the Dowa issue. Dowa educators and activists cooperated with people
working on other human rights issues in revising the survey questionnaire.
At that time, more and more people saw the need to strengthen the cooperation among people involved in Dowa issue and other human rights issues tobe able to eradicate discrimination and prejudice in Japan. This view promoted the revision of the survey questionnaire.

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Thus the revised survey questionnaire was also meant to determine
how far the students learned and understood specific human rights issues
when they entered the senior secondary schools. Due to the problem ofsome schools not encouraging students to answer all survey questions, thenumber of survey questions was reduced from about fifty questions to lessthan twenty-five questions. The most important questions were retained toencourage more schools to properly administer the survey questionnaire.
As a result, many more teachers made good use of the results of the revised survey questionnaire in planning for effective human rights education.
Analysis and Dissemination of Survey Results
The results of the survey were disseminated to all surveyed schools. Fuko
Doken prepared general reports on the survey results. But these reports suffered two problems.
First, since the schools could decide whether or not to hand over to
Fuko Doken their respective survey results, the Fuko Doken reports werelikely incomplete. Consequently, the over-all survey results could not havefully reflected the level of awareness of the students on the Dowa issue during the 1980-2004 period.
Second, for almost two decades since 1980 the survey results were disseminated with few analytical comments. Fuko Doken wanted the seniorsecondary school teachers to deeply analyze the data of their own schools
by comparing them with the average data for all surveyed prefectural seniorsecondary schools. It also expected the teachers to use the survey results
as a tool to know the extent of awareness of the Dowa issue of the first year
students in their respective schools.
It was only in 1998 that the research team of Fuko Doken decided toprovide a more comprehensive analysis of the survey results, upon the request of teachers. The teacher-members requested Fuko Doken to provide
an overview of the survey results and give pieces of useful information totheir schools. Being conscious of the development of psychology and cognitive science, the teachers realized the importance of using the survey resultsin developing teaching methodologies that effectively raise the students’awareness of the Dowa issue.

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i cMore Accurate Data Collection, Second Revision
Under a new organizational name, Furitsu Jinken’s teacher-members andresearchers saw the necessity of having a clearer and more accurate overview of the human rights awareness of the senior secondary school students
every year.
In 2004, many parts of the survey questionnaire were revised. This second revision aimed at getting useful information about the relation between
human rights awareness and the students’ personal profile such as family
background, attitude towards school life, lifestyle outside school, and selfesteem. It also aimed at collecting information on discrimination and otherhuman rights violations that the students experienced inside and outside
the school.
From that year, 2004, Furitsu Jinken has been requesting some schools
in every school district7 to become survey sampling schools. These schools
were chosen from among all types of senior secondary schools. The survey
sampling schools included those with general and special curriculums, andalso technical schools. The schools were selected based on the number ofgraduates who entered colleges or technical schools, or who started to work.
By so doing, Furitsu Jinken was able to collect both the average annual data
and a more accurate annual trend.
Measuring Effectiveness, Another Questionnaire
An analysis of the results of the 2004 survey using the revised questionnaireyielded several important elements in developing effective human rights education. The analysis showed that in order to raise the human rights awareness of students, the teachers should not only teach pieces of information
on specific issues but also make the whole school life more conscious abouthuman rights. The teachers understood that human rights awareness was
closely related to the attitude and the self-esteem of the students. They also
realized that it was necessary to use participatory methods in teaching human rights and to have more communication about human rights between
the families of the students and the members of their own communities.
Teachers started discussing issues that many senior secondary students
were much concerned about and were related to their school life but rarely
taught in ordinary lessons. These issues included self-analysis, human rela-Evaluating Human Rights Education in Osaka Senior Secondary Schools

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tions and assertiveness, love and marriage, and career education (including
the reality of part-time job, level of income necessary to support one’s self,
and workers rights). Teachers also tried to make their teaching and learningmaterials more interesting by using materials of singers and authors who
were popular to many students. They spotlighted aspects of these people
that the mass media rarely reported. They sometimes invited specialists andactivists as lecturers. The students were impressed by the unique experiences, excellent skills and humanistic ideas of these people. The teachers also
used more visual materials including photographs and movies. The lessons
also had more activities including games, field-studies, discussion, writing
reports and giving speeches. Teachers made the lessons more organized andwell-planned. In brief, the teachers started developing human rights education into a more interesting educational activity for the students. With
this situation, teachers became more anxious about the results of the survey
and their analysis, which they could use to further develop their teaching
methods.
But the revised questionnaire was not enough to measure the effectiveness of human rights education. Teachers needed a better tool for this purpose. Some teachers and researchers of Furitsu Jinken and officials of theBoard of Education (boe) of Osaka prefecture saw the necessity of developing another survey, this time for the third year senior secondary students. By
administering this survey at the end of the school year, the effectiveness ofhuman rights education on the third year senior secondary students could
be measured. Consequently, the boe decided to develop the attitude survey
for third year senior secondary students.
Knowing that the Osaka prefectural government would adopt a policy
supportive of human rights education, the boe officials and Furitsu Jinken
teacher-members developed in 2009 the new attitude survey questionnaire
prior to the adoption of the new prefectural policy.
This New Public Administration Policy of the Osaka prefectural government adopted in 2008 provided an annual budget for the:• Promotion of human rights education• Increase in the number of teachers in schools with a significant
number of minority students as well as problems related to humanrights• Schools designated for the development of human rights educationand human rights teaching materials.

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In the same year, however, the Osaka prefectural government not only
completely stopped its annual subsidy to Furitsu Jinken (5,000,000 Japanese
Yen or 62,500 US dollars) but also started examining the effectiveness andoutcome of the new policy every year since then. Furitsu Jinken was forced
to rely only on its membership fees collected from members from all the senior secondary schools in the Osaka prefecture (about 500,000 Japanese Yenor 6,250 US dollars) to continue its activities. The boe, on the other hand,started developing an effective tool to evaluate human rights education.
The attitude survey questionnaire for the third year senior secondary
students included questions similar to the attitude survey questionnaire forfirst year secondary students developed by Furitsu Jinken. The boe collected
data on third year students, while Furitsu Jinken collected data on first year
students. The boe and Furitsu Jinken then jointly compared and analyzed
the two sets of data.
However, since Furitsu Jinken had been making annual changes on
its survey questions, comparison of results of its survey with those of theboe survey was problematic. The annual changes being made by Furitsu
Jinken on its survey questionnaire made the comparison of common survey
questions limited to few questions and the comparative results tentative.
Comparison of responses of the first and third year students on common
survey questions would have been more effective had such questions been
maintained over several years in order to see a trend on the responses overa period of time.
The limitation of comparison of results to few common questions leftout a number of issues in both 2007 and 2009 surveys that could have provided a more comprehensive understanding of the human rights awarenessof senior secondary students during the 2007-2009 period.
This problem of getting a better understanding of the state of humanrights awareness of the first and third year senior secondary students overa certain period of time led to the idea of having a consolidated questionnaire for these students. In 2009, the boe and Furitsu Jinken developed aconsolidated questionnaire called “Attitude Survey of First and Third Year
Senior Secondary Students” to cover both first and third year senior secondary students. The new survey questionnaire started to be administered in
the same year.
The consolidated questionnaire gave teachers and researchers a clearer
overview about many issues. Needless to say, the consolidated questionnaire

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provided a better measure for evaluating how good and effective was thehuman rights education of the senior secondary students by comparing theanswers of the first year students with those of the third year students.
Though the boe completely stopped its subsidy to Furitsu Jinken, it continued supporting about ten schools as schools designated for human rights
education. The teachers of the designated schools administered the attitude
surveys for the first year and third year students every year. An additional
twenty schools have been asked by the boe and Furitsu Jinken to take partin the attitude survey. They chose schools in each school district considering
the number of students who entered colleges or who were employed by thecompanies after graduation so that the data of the survey would reflect the
average responses of senior secondary school students. They asked for the
return of completed questionnaires of sixty students per school. By so doing, the answers of about 1,800 students have been collected per year. Since
the total number of students in one year level in Osaka prefectural seniorsecondary schools runs up to 45,000, the number of collected answers is
equivalent to 4% of all the students for that year level.
Survey Results
The results of the 2009 consolidated survey questionnaire showed positiveeffects of human rights education in many of the schools with significant
number of minority students and schools designated for developing humanrights education. These schools, which have more students with disadvantaged background, have good results compared to other schools.
In addition to the boe support for these schools, Furitsu Jinken has been
giving many opportunities for the teachers in these schools to exchange experiences and teaching methods. It has been helping them develop teachingmaterials and resources. The results of the sampling survey in 2009 show theeffectiveness of the boe policy and the support from Furitsu Jinken.
Below are some highlights of the results of the sampling survey in2009 with a comparison between average survey responses and those fromschools with significant number of minority students and schools designated for the development of human rights education. See the full 2009 survey
questionnaire in Annex A.

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A. Attitude on different human rights issues
Question 13. How do you evaluate the following human rights issues after learning them?
A. The Dowa issue

1
2
3
4

I thought it was a significant matter to learn
I could not understand it wellI did not learn it
I felt it was none of my business

Average

Designatedschools

40
24
27
9

49
23
17
10

Average

Designatedschools

40
24
27
9

47
28
17
8

Average

Designatedschools

63
16
16
5

69
16
9
6

Average

Designatedschools

54
20
20
6

60
22
14
5

Schools withincreased numberof teachers
57
24
11
9

B. Korean minority in Japan

1
2
3
4

I thought it was a significant matter to learn
I could not understand it wellI did not learn it
I felt it was none of my business

Schools withincreased numberof teachers
48
33
12
8

C. People with disabilities

1
2
3
4

I thought it was a significant matter to learn
I could not understand it wellI did not learn it
I felt it was none of my business

Schools withincreased numberof teachers
68
20
6
5

D. Gender equality

1
2
3
4

I thought it was a significant matter to learn
I could not understand it wellI did not learn it
I felt it was none of my business

Schools withincreased numberof teachers
60
24
13
3

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E. Internet and human rights

1
2
3
4

I thought it was a significant matter to learn
I could not understand it wellI did not learn it
I felt it was none of my business

Average

Designatedschools

51
24
19
6

52
27
14
5

Average

Designatedschools

57
15
21
7

63
15
15
7

Average

Designatedschools

37
21
34
8

50
23
20
7

Schools withincreased numberof teachers
50
27
17
6

F. Bullying

1
2
3
4

I thought it was a significant matter to learn
I could not understand it wellI did not learn it
I felt it was none of my business

Schools withincreased numberof teachers
55
19
19
7

G. Protection of human rights in job recruitment

1
2
3
4

I thought it was a significant matter to learn
I could not understand it wellI did not learn it.
I felt it was none of my business

Schools withincreased numberof teachers
50
26
19
5

Generally speaking, the number of students in the designated schools
and schools with increased number of teachers who answered "I thought it
was a significant matter to learn" is more than the average number of students with such answer. While less than the average number of students inthese schools answered "I did not learn it.” These results may indicate effective teaching of human rights issues, as well as its positive effect on students.

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B. Attitude in facing human rights violations and discrimination(This is the question for those who answered “Yes” in Question 18.)
Question 19. What did you do when you felt hurt or discriminated?

1
2
3
4
5

I pointed out what was wrong and talked
with him/her about it.
I tried to point out what was wrong
I did not point out what was wrong, andtalked to him/her about another topic
I kept silent and took no action
I consulted the teachers /my parent(s)/the human rights protection organization
about it.

Average

Designatedschools

Schools withincreased numberof teachers

16

20

20

12

16

20

19

17

20

45

40

36

8

7

4

Average

Designatedschools

Schools withincreased numberof teachers

10

11

11

30

36

37

12

12

11

26

23

25

22

19

16

Question 20. What will you do when you feel hurt or discriminated?

1
2
3
4
5

I will point out what is wrong and talk withhim/her about it
I will try to point out what is wrong
I will not point out and will talk to him/her
about another topic
I will keep silent
I will consult the teachers /my parent(s)/the human rights protection organization
about it

The number of students in the designated schools and schools with increased number of teachers who responded that they “took/will take positive actions when faced with human rights violations and discrimination” ismore than that of the students in the other schools. This again may indicate
effectiveness of the teaching of human rights issues in these schools.
C. Comparison of results of the 2007 and 2009 attitude surveys
To be able to find out if there had been a change in human rights awareness of students when they were in first year and when they reached third

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year, a comparison of the results of the 2007 Furitsu Jinken survey of firstyear students was made with those of the 2009 BOE-Furitsu Jinken consolidated survey of third year students.
The data from the 2007 survey do not disaggregate the results from thedesignated schools and schools with increased number of teachers. Only
average data for all students surveyed in 2007 are being compared to the2009 third year students survey.
The following survey results cover similar questions in the 2007 firstyear students survey and 2009 third year students’ survey.
Question 17. Are you interested in human rights?
1
2
3
4

Very Much
Probably
Not muchNo

2007 - First Year Students
8
37
44
12

2009 - Third Year Students
19
51
24
6

(This is the question for those who answered “Yes” in Question 18.)
Question 19. What did you do when you felt hurt or discriminated?

1
2
3
4
5

I pointed out what was wrong andtalked with him/her about it
I tried to point out what was wrong
I did not point out what was wrong, andtalked to him/her about another topic
I kept silent and took no action
I consulted the teachers /myparent(s) /the human rights protection
organization about it2007 - First Year Students

2009 - Third Year Students

20

16

14

12

14

19

42

45

10

8

Question 20. What will you do when you feel hurt or discriminated?
2007 - First Year Students
I will point out what is wrong and talk1
14
with him/her about it 2007
2
I will try to point out what is wrong
26
I will not point out and will talk to him/
329
her about another topic
4
I will keep silent and took no action
26
I will consult with the teachers /my5parent(s) /the human rights protection
4organization about it2009 - Third Year Students
10
30
12
26
22

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Generally speaking, the results show that teachers are able to raise theinterest of students on human rights. But their effort does not seem to be
sufficient to allow the students to develop skills in protecting themselves
against human rights violations. Comparing the 2007 and 2009 responses,
there is an increase in the number of students who were very interested orprobably interested on human rights by the time the students reached thirdyear (Question 17 responses). But this did not seem to translate into action
or behavioral change since the number of third year students who pointed
out or willing to point out what was/is wrong (or human rights violations)decreased compared to the number of first year students who would do thesame (Questions 19 and 20 responses).
This data probably point to the need for senior secondary school teachers to develop the teaching methodologies, including the participatory
method, that make the students learn how to point out and protect themselves against human rights violations and discrimination.
Under Question 20, the number of third year students who would consult others (including human rights organizations) to solve human rights
violations and discrimination is higher than the number of first year students who would do the same. This result may mean that the negative attitude (not to consult with the proper people and organization and to put up
with human rights violation when the students face them) has changed into
a positive attitude to some extent. But this result may not clearly indicate
whether or not the teaching of human rights in senior secondary schools has
strengthened such attitude of consulting others. It is possible that the students were affected by the increased social awareness in society in general.
Other Observations on the 2009 Survey
The answers to Question 3 (“With whom do you consult when you are worried or troubled?”) of the consolidated survey questionnaire provide important information to the teachers. The answers of both first year and thirdyear students show that few students consult their teachers when they are
worried or troubled. Less than 5 percent in both sets of students consult
their teacher. Consultation with “friends” has the highest percentage forboth groups of students. Among the first year students, consultation withthe parents (mother) has the second highest percentage, while consultation
with “others” has the second highest percentage for the third year students.

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These results show that few students regard their teachers as persons
with whom they can discuss private matters. Probably too, few students
expect their teachers to give good advice. If this is so, it is necessary forteachers to have “counseling mind” and that they try to support and guidetheir students besides teaching lessons. But due to their current development stage, senior secondary school students seem to welcome support
from their friends more than from their teachers regarding their personal
lives. It can be said that the senior secondary school teachers should give
their students the opportunities to seek advice from school counselors. It
can also be said that the teachers should try to build more cooperative andwarmer relationship among the students to make them more helpful andsupportive of each other.
Comparing the answers to Question 2 (“With whom do you feel relaxedand safe?”) and Question 3 (“With whom do you consult when you are worried or troubled?”) of the first and third year students provides a basis forunderstanding whether or not the senior secondary school students havesuccessfully maintained good relations with each other in school.
Comparing the answers to Question 13 (How do you evaluate the following human rights issues after learning them?) between first and thirdyear students provides a basis for analyzing the effectiveness of the teaching materials and methods developed by the senior secondary teachers.
Comparing the answers between first and third year students to Question
20 (“What will you do when you feel hurt or discriminated?”) provides a basis for evaluating how well the senior secondary school students have been
empowered and have developed their skills to promote human rights.
Question 18 has two versions, one for first year students (“Did you feelhurt or discriminated in your school life?”) and another for third year students (“Did you feel hurt or discriminated in your school life after entering
senior high school?”). For the first year students, the phase “your school life”
refers to life in primary or junior secondary schools. For third year students,
the question is clearly referring to “school life after entering senior secondary school.”
Conclusion
The surveys held by Furitsu Jinken and then by the BOE of the Osaka prefecture show the necessity of determining the effectiveness of human rights

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education in the school system. The results of the surveys have provided
teachers and education researchers with proper bases for improving theteaching of human rights not only inside the classroom but also in the whole
school system (and also extending to the communities where the students
belong). Seen in another angle, the surveys helped them know more about
the relationship between the development of human rights awareness andthe teaching of human rights issues and the school life of secondary school
students.
It is therefore important that this type of survey continues and its results
analyzed and disseminated to school officials, education officials, teachersand education researchers.

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Annex A
Attitude Survey of First and Third Year Secondary Students
Tick an Answer
Question 1. Do your family members understand you well?
Answer
1. Yes ____
2. Probably Yes____3. Probably No____4. No____
Question 2. With whom do you feel relaxed and safe?
Answer
1. Father___
2. Mother___
3. Brother(s) and Sister(s) ___4. The Other Family Member(s) ___5. Teacher___
6. Friend(s) ___7. The Other(s) ___Question 3. With whom do you consult when you are worried or troubled?
Answer
1. Father ___2. Mother ___3. Brother(s) and Sister(s) ___4. The Other Family Member(s) ___5. Teacher ___6. Friend(s) ___7. The Other(s) ___Question 4. Do you think that you decide your way of life by yourself?
Answer
1. Yes ___2. Probably yes ___

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3. Probably no ___4. No ___
Question 5. Do you think that you are acting to realize what you have decided?
Answer
1. Yes ___2. Probably yes ___3. Probably no ___4. No___
Question 6. Was the study in your senior secondary school useful?
(Question for first year students: Was the study in your primary school and juniorsecondary school useful?)
Answer
1. Very Much ___2. Probably ___3. Not much ___4. No ___
5. I don’t know ___Question 7. Do you feel that school life at your senior secondary school was fruitful?
Answer
1. Very Much ___2. Probably ___3. Not much ___4. No ___
5. I don’t know ___Question 8. Do you feel that you are well taken cared of by the teachers in your seniorsecondary school?
(Question for first year students: Do you feel that the teachers treated you kindly in yourprimary school and junior secondary school?)Answer
1. Yes, many teachers treat/treated me so ____
2. Yes, some do/did ___3. Not many ____
4. Not at all ____
5. I don’t know ____

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Question 9. I am happy
Answer
1. Very Much ___2. Probably ___3. Not much ___4. No ___
5. I don’t know ___Question 10. In my character I have many points that I dislike
Answer
1. Very Much ___2. Probably ___3. Not much ___4. No ___
5. I don’t know ___Question 11. My friends like me
Answer
1. Very Much ___2. Probably ___3. Not much ___4. No ___
5. I don’t know ___Question 12. Adults around me put their hopes on me very much
Answer
1. Very Much ___2. Probably ___3. Not much ___4. No ___
5. I don’t know ___Question 13. How do you evaluate the following human rights issues after learningthem?
A. The Dowa issue
Answer
1. I felt it was significant to learn it ___

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2. I could not understand it well ___3. I did not learn it ___4. I felt it was none of my business ___B. Korean minority in JapanAnswer
1. I felt it was significant to learn it ___2. I could not understand it well ___3. I did not learn it ___4. I felt it was none of my business ___C. People with disabilities
Answer
1. I felt it was significant to learn it ___2. I could not understand it well ___3. I did not learn it ___4. I felt it was none of my business ___D. Gender equality
Answer
1. I felt it was significant to learn it ___2. I could not understand it well ___3. I did not learn it ___4. I felt it was none of my business ___E. Internet and human rights
Answer
1. I felt it was significant to learn it ___2. I could not understand it well ___3. I did not learn it ___4. I felt it was none of my business ___F. Bullying
Answer
1. I felt it was significant to learn it ___2. I could not understand it well ___3. I did not learn it ___4. I felt it was none of my business ___H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c

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G. Protection of human rights in job recruitment
Answer
1. I felt it was significant to learn it ___2. I could not understand it well ___3. I did not learn it ___4. I felt it was none of my business ___Question 14. Check all the topics that impressed you after learning themAnswer
1. Self-esteem ___2. Importance of human relations ___3. Training for assertive communication ___4. HIV/AIDS ___5. Aged people ___6. Child rights ___7. Child abuse ___8. Domestic violence (Date DV included) ___9. Multiculturalism ___10. Cultural studies (the understanding of different cultures) ___11. Sexual harassment ___12. Sexual minority ___13. Poverty ___14. Hansen’s disease ___15. Rights of laborers ___17. Racial discrimination ___18. Discrimination against Okinawan people ___19. Discrimination against Ainu people (the indigenous people in the northern part ofJapan) ___20. Pollution ___21. Homeless people ___22. Rights to learn and literacy ___23. Education for Sustainable Development ___24. Foreign minority in Japan ___25. War and peace ___210

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Question 15. Do you think that your self-esteem has been developed through yourschool life?
Answer
1. Very Much ___2. Probably ___3. Not much ___4. No ___
5. I don’t know ___Question 16. Did you learn the importance of assertive human relations through yourschool life?
Answer
1. Very Much ___2. Probably ___3. Not much ___4. No ___
5. I don’t know ___Question 17. Do you have interest in human rights?
Answer
1. Very Much ___2. Probably ___3. Not much ___4. No ___
5. I don’t know ___Question 18. Did you feel hurt or discriminated in your school life after entering seniorhigh school?
Answer
1. Yes ___2. No(This is the question for those who answered “Yes” in Question 18.)
Question 19. What did you do when you felt hurt or discriminated?
Answer
1. I pointed out what was wrong and talked with him/her about it ___2. I tried to point out what was wrong ___3. I did not point out what was wrong, and talked to him/her about another topic ___Evaluating Human Rights Education in Osaka Senior Secondary Schools

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4. I kept silent and made no action ___5. I consulted the teachers /my parent(s) /the human rights protection organization
about it ___Question 20. What will you do when you feel hurt or discriminated?
Answer
1. I will point out what is wrong and talk with him/her about it ___2. I will try to point out what is wrong ___3. I will not point out and will talk to him/her about another topic ___4. I will try to change the topic of our talk ___5. I will keep silent ___6. I will consult with the teachers /my parent(s) /the human rights protection
organization about it ___Question 21. Do you think that it is wrong to say “No” on the pretext of his/her descentor birthplace?
Answer
1. Yes _____
2. Probably yes _____
3. Probably no _____
4. No _____
5 I don’t know _____
Question 22 Do you think that we should reform all the public facilities for people withdisabilities to use them with no difficulty?
Answer
1. Yes _____
2. Probably yes____3. Probably no ____
4. No ____
5 I don’t know _____
Question 23 The cultures that the foreign people living in Japan should be respected.
Answer
1. Yes _____
2. Probably yes___
3. Probably no ____
4. No ____
5. I don’t know ____

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Question 24 The idea “Men work outside and women do inside.” is wrong.
1. Yes _____
2. Probably yes___
3. Probably no ____
4. No ____
5. I don’t know ___Endnotes
1. “Jinken” is the Japanese word for human rights.
2. “Fuko” is the abbreviation in Japanese language of “ Osaka Furitsu Koto " and"Doken" is the abbreviation in Japanese language of " Dowa Kyoiku Kenkyukai."
3. “DOWA education is defined as an umbrella concept referring to all formsof educational activities by both government and the Buraku movement to solve
the problems of Buraku discrimination. It is now considered to be one pillar in the
broad-based human rights education initiative in Japan.” Mori Minoru and Hirasawa
Yasumasa, “Dowa Education and Human Rights”; in Human Rights Education in
Asian Schools, 1, page 11; at www.hurights.or.jp/archives/human_rights_education_in_asian_schools/section2/1998/03/dowa-education-and-human-rights.html.
4. The Ministry of Justice of Japan explains the Dowa issue (or Buraku discrimination) in the following manner:
Owing to discrimination which had been formed based on the
structure of social status in the course of the historical developmentof Japanese society, some Japanese people have been forced to accept alower status economically, socially and culturally, and they are subject
to various kinds of discrimination in their daily lives even today. Thisis the Dowa issue, which is a unique Japanese human rights problem.
To solve the problem, the State, together with local public entities,
has worked for 33 years since 1969 on regional improvements based on
the Law for Special Measures for Dowa Projects. As a result, physicalinfrastructure developments to solve the poor environment of Dowa
districts … achieved steady results and the regional disparity with other
districts has become considerably smaller.
However, discrimination in marriage and employment has not
ended. The State is assertively promoting measures to solve Dowa issues and the human rights organs of the Ministry of Justice have also
been developing affirmative human rights promotion activities aiming
at resolving such problems. (Source: www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/HB/
hb-03.html#3-5)
5. The ten research issues are the following:•
Education related to part-time and the correspondence courses•
Multicultural education•
Gender-free education

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Education related to people with disabilities•
Education related to the eradication of the Buraku discrimination•
Career guidance and education related to scholarship•
Education for promoting voluntary activities•
Education for protecting human rights in the internet society•
Research on the history of Buraku minorities•
Research on human rights awareness.
6. For further details, See What is Buraku Problem?, Buraku Liberation and
Human Rights Research Institute, http://blhrri.org/blhrri_e/What_is_Buraku.htm.
7. There were nine school districts in Osaka in 2004. But they were decreased
to four in 2007.