Over the past months, there’s been an emerging sentiment in Japan campaigning a look at student’s conduct rules with questions if they’re contributing to a learning environment. One of the controversial rules is that students must put on white underwear. Since schools naturally want this rule to be followed, it has over time resulted in teachers inspecting students' underwear, including pulling girls' bra straps through their color to check the color or by scanning students' while changing for P.E. class.
In past months, teachers have been inspecting students' underwear, including pulling girls' bra straps through their collars to check the color.
unsplash/ Stephanie Hau -Via
In response to this particular school rule, Saga Prefecture’s board of education carried out a study using a total of 51 middle and high schools. The board discovered that 14 of them had a white-underwear requirement, which was considered irrational. Thankfully, the rule has officially been abolished, implying that no more underwear color checks starting with the 2021 school year in the second week of April.But thankfully, the rule has officially been abolished, starting from the second week of April.
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The board equally banned rules forcing students to wear gendered uniforms that aim at promoting the inclusion of those who identify as non-binary. Additional rules were abolished - students in some schools had been barred from using lap blankets, and a few weren’t permitted to attach character straps to their school bags. According to NewsOnJapan, rules regulating the color of student’s socks will equally be scrapped.Saga Prefecture's board of education equally banned rules forcing students to wear gendered uniforms.
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In 2020, a study conducted close to the city of Fukuoka discovered that over 80% of its schools had rules on the color of students’ underwear. The report claimed students were made to remove their underwear at school if they wear the wrong color.
The report had stated that the treatment was an infringement of human rights. Other offenses, however, include leaving behind textbooks in class, being sat down for a lesson before the bell rings, and shopping while on the way home from school amid others.
