Japanese teachers protest against ‘work without limits’

In one of the last entries in his diary, Japanese professor Yoshio Kudo lamented workdays that started early and could last until almost midnight. Two months later, he suffered “karoshi”, death from work overload.

Kudo’s grueling schedule is no exception in Japan, where teachers have some of the world’s longest work hours filled with tasks ranging from cleaning to supervising school transfers and extracurricular activities.

A 2018 study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that a high school teacher in Japan works 56 hours a week, compared to an average of 38 hours in most developed countries.

But that figure doesn’t even include the amazing amount of overtime.

A study by a think tank affiliated with the union found that teachers work overtime an average of 123 hours per month, exceeding the so-called “karoshi line” of 80 hours.

Teachers say they’ve reached the breaking point and some have rebelled against this culture through lawsuits. Earlier this year, Japan’s ruling party commissioned a working group to look into the matter.

For Kudo, it comes too late. This high school teacher died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 2007 at the age of just 40.

At his funeral for his wife Sachiko, his shocked students said that the energetic gym teacher was “the furthest person you can imagine from death”.

“He just loved working with children,” says Sachiko, 55. AFP.

But in his last weeks he suffered from days. “Toward the end, he told me that teachers should stop working like this, and that he wants to lead these changes in the future,” says the widow.

“Goodbye Weekend”

Japanese authorities have ordered improvements such as outsourcing and digitalization of some tasks.

“Our measures to reform the working conditions of teachers are making steady progress,” Education Minister Keiko Nagaoka told parliament in October.

But he acknowledged that many “are still working overtime” and “these efforts need to be accelerated.”

These ministries show a gradual decrease in overtime work, but experts do not see any fundamental changes.

From piles of paperwork to handing out food, cleaning, or supervising the transfer of children to school, Japanese teachers “have become sort of valets in everything,” says school management consultant Masatoshi Senoo.

“What should really be the responsibility of parents is left to teachers, who can even be sent to apologize to neighbors when students misbehave in parks or shops,” he explains.

One of the most grueling tasks is managing sports and cultural activities in student clubs, which are usually held after school or on weekends.

“Becoming the head of one of these clubs usually means saying goodbye to the weekend,” says Takeshi Nishimoto, a history teacher at a high school in Osaka.

In June, this 34-year-old teacher won a lawsuit seeking compensation for stress caused by work overload.

He filed the lawsuit after he was on the brink of a nervous breakdown in 2017 when he was in charge of a rugby club and worked 144 hours of overtime in one month.

“Sacred Work”

Experts say teachers are particularly vulnerable to overwork due to a decades-old law that bans them from charging for overtime.

In turn, the law adds eight hours of overtime per month to their monthly salary, a system that Nishimoto says results in “teachers working without limits for a fixed fee.”

Masako Shimonomura, a physical education teacher in Tokyo, explains that it’s hard to take a break during the day.

“However, not everything is black in this work,” he adds.

“There are moments that I live for, like seeing my softball club students beam and smile at tournaments,” says the 56-year-old, who fears this pessimistic image will be foisted on the youth.

A 2016 Mainichi newspaper investigation found that over the past decade, 63 teacher deaths were classified as overwork.

But it took the widow Kudō five years for the “karoshi” to officially recognize the cause of her husband’s death.

For her, since teaching is seen as a “sacred work” dedicated to children, such an attitude as recording overtime is considered selfish.

“So many teachers regret having lived their lives without stopping to enjoy the growth of their own children,” says a woman, a former teacher who now leads an anti-karoshi group.

“I feel like my husband and I are working together to fulfill his last words: he wants to change the way teachers work.”

(According to AFP)