DOWA EDUCATI ON AND COMMUNITY ACTIVITI ES
The Buraku liberation movement has been firmly based in Buraku communities. Since the founding of "Suiheisha," or the Levelers' Association of 1922, the movement has consistently emphasized the vital role of education. Often it is said "The Buraku liberation movement begins with education and ends in education." Buraku community-based movements have had significant roles to promote education against discrimination and about Buraku issues, and to bring academic achievement of Buraku children on par with non-Buraku children. An educational function is inherent in the community movement. Adult literacy movement, community children's activities, and educational engagement of Buraku parents are highlighted in the following.
ADULT LITERACY MOVEMENT
A letter written by a literacy student
Dear Masuko MORITA,
I didn't go to school because my family was poor. So I was completely illiterate.
I can write most kanas (Japanese phonetic letters) now because I have studied in a literacy class.
I used to ask someone to write my name for me at the receptionist desk when I went to see a doctor.
But the other day I finally wrote down my name by myself. I was overjoyed when I heard a nurse calling my name, "Ms.Kitadai."
In the past I wasn't really impressed by the sunset's glory, but now that I know how to read and write I can really appreciate the beauty of the sunset's glory.
As I walk around town these days I feel very glad when I find letters that I know in street signs and advertisements.
I enjoy going to the supermarket and a 'Thursday market' since now I can calculate.
I no longer get ashamed for not being able to recognize the number of my room at an inn because I can read numbers now.
I want to study more and more.
I want to live another ten years.
February 28, 1973
Iro KI TADAI
This letter written by an elderly Buraku woman was carried in a publication which was produced as a result of Book Voyage, a global project commemorating the International Literacy Year of 1990. The author was born in Buraku, attended a Buraku literacy class when she was almost 70 years old, and acquired the basic literacy skills to write this first letter she had ever written in her life. The letter communicates messages illuminating the significance of literacy for Buraku people.
Illiteracy among Burakumin has been disproportionately high. Many elderly Burakumin could not complete basic education due to the multiplying effects of discrimination in the school and poverty at home and in the community. Those illiterate adults have been trying to regain literacy in their community literacy classes. The Buraku liberation movement has actively promoted literacy activities saying "The literacy movement is the foundation of the liberation movement."
Buraku literacy movements spread widely in the 1960s. Some literacy classes were organized by teachers who found through repeated visits to Buraku homes that many Buraku parents were illiterate. Other classes were opened by the liberation movement to enable Buraku people to read the organs or newsletters of the Buraku Liberation League. Those classes began in small rooms without sufficient facilities. A small number of teachers began to visit these classes as instructors on the belief that illiteracy in the Buraku was caused by their inaction or failure in educating Buraku people. The number of literacy classes expanded nationwide rapidly as activities in these initial classes were introduced in various meetings of Dowa education and the Buraku movement. Today, there are about 600 such literacy classes in Buraku communities, mostly centering in western Japan.
The Buraku community literacy movement has emphasized, just like Paulo Freire's theory of critical literacy, the need to enable the learners to read the world by reading the word. As exemplified in the letter introduced earlier, many learners in literacy classes reflect together with other learners on their past life experiences to find out why they couldn't go to school and how they were discriminated against and suffered because they were illiterate. These reflections and memories are expressed in writing based on the literacy skills they began to acquire. A number of books containing these written works from Buraku literacy classes have been published
Secondly, adult literacy is pursued by simultaneously questioning the responsibility of the schooling and working to transform the schools and teachers. We have often called the participants in literacy classes "living witnesses to discrimination." If schools had not been discriminatory and had done enough to improve Buraku children's academic performances, they would not have had to face intimidating moments and attend literacy classes as adults. In this sense, the responsibility of schooling for failing to educate Buraku children should be more openly questioned. Also, the process by which illiterate adults acquire literacy and write and talk about their experiences to liberate themselves compels us to investigate the nature of schooling constructed on the banking model ("teachers teach and students receive knowledge") and encourages teachers to actualize similar and liberatory learning processes also in the schools. Actually, many teachers who taught literacy classes translated their learning in those classes into their instruction and teaching materials.
Thirdly, the literacy movement has stimulated the growth of diverse cultural activities. It is not only literacy skills that the learners acquire but they also develop the will and power to express their wishes and expectations, often hidden inside themselves, in various ways. One cultural activity is called "Ogari" meaning literally" to speak out." It is a collective stage performance of Buraku experience played usually by Buraku women. "Ogari" is presented in the form of a play based on the stories written and/or told by literacy learners. Parodies and jointly-produced dramas have been created in many Buraku literacy classes. Warm and caring human relations are indispensable as a foundation of these activities.
Many Buraku people have experienced the process of consciousness-raising by participating in literacy classes. And a number of literacy works have been produced. However, there are many Buraku people who cannot read or write sufficiently. The comprehensive survey of Buraku areas in Osaka conducted in 1991 showed that at least 11,000 individuals in Buraku communities in Osaka alone, or 16.4% of Buraku people at or above 15 years of age, have difficulty in reading and writing.
The International Literacy Year of 1990 stimulated a number of significant developments in Japan. The Buraku literacy movement collaborated with other literacy initiatives in Japan to organize various events during and after the ILY. A number of TV programs on literacy issues were produced. Our representatives have also attended international meetings on literacy, where we were greatly encouraged by knowing that people with the same spirit all over the world are promoting literacy movements. We maintain strong ties with literacy programs and movements in South Africa, Nepal, Thailand and South Korea.
BURAKU CHILDREN'S ACTIVITI ES
The Boys and Girls Levelers' Association was already active in the early years of the Buraku liberation movement and held an important position in the movement as a whole. Konojiro YAMADA, then a 15 year-old boy, proposed the idea of organizing the Boys and Girls Levelers' Association at the second national convention of Suiheisha, or Levelers, in 1923. He criticized the school, saying, "Buraku children are educated by the devil-like-minded teachers," and argued for the vital need of such an independent organization of children to fight discrimination in the school. Buraku discrimination in the pre-war days was truly harsh and Buraku children frequently boycotted school attendance.
A typical case of Buraku children's community activity evolved in the Tanaka Buraku in Kyoto. Children there issued the following statement: "The community children's organization creates the environment for learning. We talk about our problems in life and organize our demands. We learn about discrimination. We acquire firm solidarity and discipline." Among concrete activities of children in the Tanaka community were play, sports, labor, study, and cultural and social activities.
Strong demand for government support to Buraku community children's activities resulted in the construction of community children's centers in large-scale urban Buraku communities in Osaka and elsewhere starting around 1970. Activities of these "Kodomo Kai" or Buraku children's community-based organization are carried out in those centers. In some communities, full-time paid leaders for these children's activities have been recruited from the community residents and they are employed as public servants. These children's activities are also supported by school teachers and parents.
Recently, the scope of activities has greatly expanded in terms of age and content. Organized activities are taking place in separate groupings such as lower elementary, upper elementary, junior high, senior high, college and working youth so that different needs can be met. They deal not only with Buraku issues but also with other issues of discrimination, such as that facing disabled persons and resident foreigners. Some Kodomokai are active in international exchanges, too.
As children's needs diversify, a wider array of activities should develop. Some Kodomokai now face a declining rate of participation as they cannot respond quickly to the changing needs of children. There remain a number of issues to deal with: leader training, better function of the children's center as a facility, and networking with children's activities not just domestically but also globally.
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
The Japanese Constitution, enacted after the war, stipulates that compulsory education is to be provided free of charge. However, in reality, expenses for textbooks and school lunches had to be paid by parents, though tuition was free. In the period immediately following the end of the Second World War, many Buraku and other children from poor families could not afford to go to school. Beginning in the latter half of the 195Os, organized voices of Buraku children and parents demanded the full implementation of the constitutional principle of free basic education. The issue of free supply of school textbooks in particular was highlighted. In the mid-l960s textbooks began to be provided free of charge and in 1969 all textbooks for elementary and junior high students were made free.
Through these actions in the 1960s and the 1970s, parental organizations in Buraku communities began to be formed in various places. These organizations are usually called "Mamorukai" or parental associations to improve children's education. Initially, they mainly requested local governments to provide better educational conditions in the school. But they have gradually shifted their focus on their own child-rearing practices and on advancing collaborative efforts for better child-rearing.
Parental involvement is becoming active. Recently, for instance, "Mamorukai" parental associations encourage the exchanging of notes on how to relate to children better, organize sessions to acquire skills of reading picture-books to children, and sponsor events for children jointly with the school and the community children's center.
Pressing concerns at the moment include how parents can play a more effective role in improving Buraku children's lower academic achievements and how a more positive parental involvement can be developed.
SUMMARY
There are a number of Buraku community educational activities in addition to the ones outlined above: cooking classes to improve dietary habits, and classes on traditional tea ceremony and flower arrangement skills, etc. In some Buraku communities, parents collect signatures and organize meetings to place demands on local governments for better conditions in the school. And in some communities, Buraku parents and youths visit schools to talk about their experiences of discrimination to students and teachers.
All these efforts have yielded some positive results, but at the same time many problems remain. With the UN Decade of Human Rights as a springboard, we would like to expand our exchanges with educators and people all over the world so we can mutually enrich our activities.