Educational Order - Kyoikurei

This law was promulgated on September 29, 1879 (Meiji 12) after the abolition of the school system. In order to rectify the problems that came with the implementation of the school system, such as the increased economic burden on local people, the separation of school content from people's lives, and the neglect of local finances, and to place importance on local conditions, the Ministry of Education revised its centralized education policy and gave a large amount of educational administrative authority to local authorities. It was drafted by a committee headed by Minister of Education Tanaka Fujimaro. Tanaka toured Europe and the United States in 1871 as a council member of Ambassador Iwakura's party, but in 1876, on the occasion of the American Centennial Exhibition, he returned to the United States to inspect the education systems of each state and learned about the decentralization principle. The draft education ordinance was created based on this decentralization principle, and after consulting with Superintendent David Morlay, and was presented to the throne in 1881. At that time, Ito Hirobumi, who was a councilor, Minister of Public Works, and Director-General of the Legislative Bureau, made significant revisions to this bill and promulgated it.

The Education Order consisted of 47 articles, and unlike the Education System, it only prescribed elementary school education. It integrated educational administration into general administration, abolished the Supervision Bureau and school district supervision, and established the Education Commission. Like the Education System, it adhered to the principle of state control of education, but respected the actual conditions in each region. It also liberalized the establishment of public elementary schools, allowing private elementary schools to be exempted if they existed, and the system of itinerant teachers to be recognized. It also allowed the shortening of the period of elementary school completion from the regular 8 years to 4 years, and relaxed the actual compulsory attendance requirement to 16 months or more out of the 4 years. As a result, elementary school education in the regions declined, and in December 1880, the Minister of Education, Kono Togama, revised the law again in the direction of strengthening state control, but it was abolished in 1886 as a result of the Elementary School Order enacted by the first Minister of Education, Mori Arinori.

[Yoshihiko Motoyama]

"Tsuchiya Tadao, 'A Study of the History of Educational Policy in the Early Meiji Period' (1968, Bunkyo Tosho)" ▽ "Inoue Hisao, 'The Establishment of Modern Japanese Educational Law' (1969, Kazama Shobo)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1879年（明治12）9月29日、学制を廃止して公布した法規。学制実施に伴う地方民衆の経済負担の増加、教科内容と民衆生活との分離、地方財政の軽視などの弊害を是正し、地方の実情を重視しようという立場から、文部省が中央集権的教育政策を改め、地方当局に教育行政権限を大幅に与えた。文部大輔(もんぶたいふ)田中不二麻呂(たなかふじまろ)を中心に委員会を設けて起草。田中は1871年岩倉大使一行の理事官として欧米を視察したが、1876年アメリカ独立100年記念博覧会開催の機会に再度渡米、各州の教育制度を視察し、その地方分権主義を学んだ。教育令案はこの分権主義を参考に、学監ダビット・モルレーの意見も聞いて作成、1881年に上奏。当時、参議兼工部卿(こうぶきょう)で法制局長官の伊藤博文(いとうひろぶみ)は、この案を大きく修正して公布した。

　教育令は47条よりなり、内容も学制と違って小学校教育のみを規定した。教育行政を一般行政に統合し、督学局、学区取締を廃止して学務委員を置いた。学制と同様、教育の国家管理の原則は貫いていたが、地方の実情を尊重した。公立小学校の設立も、私立小学校があればこれを免除したほか、巡回教員の制を認めるなど、これを自由化し、小学校の修学年限も、正規は8か年であるところを4か年まで短縮することを認めるとともに、実際の就学義務は4か年の内16か月以上と緩和した。そのため、地方の小学校教育は衰退し、1880年12月、河野敏鎌(こうのとがま)文部卿の手で再度国家管理強化の方向に改正されたが、1886年、初代文部大臣森有礼(もりありのり)の制定した小学校令の結果、廃止されるに至った。

［本山幸彦］

『土屋忠雄著『明治前期教育政策史の研究』（1968・文教図書）』▽『井上久雄著『近代日本教育法の成立』（1969・風間書房）』

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