Teachers ask Hashimoto to understand their work
The Yomiuri Shimbun
OSAKA--A group of native English-speaking teachers employed by the Osaka prefectural government submitted a statement to Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto on Monday, asking for better understanding of their work.
In the statement, the Osaka Fu Special English Teachers Union expressed concern over the threatened cancellation for budget reasons of the prefecture's 18-year-old Native English Teachers Program, which comprises 34 teachers and is one of the largest in Japan. The union also asked Hashimoto to visit schools to see them teach classes.
The group decided to submit the statement in response to the prefectural government's limiting of the teachers' contracts to four months, based on its April to July provisional budget, unlike the one-year contract renewals of the past.
At a press conference attended by about 15 union members, Steven
Thompson, general secretary of the union said: "A four-month contract [for
teaching work that requires long-term planning] is just crazy. It's a terrible
problem."
(Apr. 8, 2008)