May 23 08:21 AM US/EasternTOKYO, May 23 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The Tokyo education board on Friday punished two teachers of public schools for refusing to stand up at the schools' enrollment ceremonies in April when the "Kimigayo" anthem was being recited, the board said.
A high school teacher was reprimanded with a one-month pay cut, while a teacher at a special-needs school received an admonitory warning. The two immediately requested that the personnel commission of the metropolitan government review the decisions and annul them.
The punishments are based on a notice issued by the education board on Oct. 23, 2003, directing school principals to order teachers to stand and sing the anthem or else be reprimanded. Since the notice was issued, 410 teachers and school clerks, including the two, have been punished.
There is growing criticism that the instruction violates the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of thought and conscience, with the punished high school teacher saying, "It is not acceptable that the administrative body intervenes in thought and conscience."
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