vocational school - jitsugyo gakko

A general term for various vocational educational institutions that were legally abolished on April 1, 1947 (Showa 22). Its origins can be found in industrial schools, commercial schools, agricultural schools, etc., which were listed as a type of middle school in the "Education System" of 1872 (Meiji 5). However, in reality, the systematization of schools began with the General Rules for Agricultural Schools in 1883 and the General Rules for Commercial Schools the following year, and progressed through the Regulations for Vocational Supplementary Schools in 1893, the Regulations for Apprentice Schools the following year, and the Regulations for Simple Agricultural Schools, and was given a unified position in the system for the first time with the "Vocational Schools Ordinance" of 1899. This Imperial Ordinance listed five types of schools for industry, agriculture, commerce, merchant marine, and vocational supplementary training. Generally, schools were divided into Class A and Class B, with Class A requiring graduates of higher elementary school as admission qualifications and a three-year period of study, and Class B requiring three years after graduating from ordinary elementary school. A 1920 (Taisho 9) revision to the Vocational School Act abolished the distinction between Class A and Class B and also recognized vocational schools with a five-year period of study, and a 1921 revision set the period of study after graduation from an ordinary elementary school at five years and after graduation from a high elementary school at three years. Furthermore, in 1943 (Showa 18), the Secondary School Act was enacted, which established vocational schools as secondary schools with the same status as junior high schools and girls' high schools, and set the period of study after graduation from the elementary department of national schools at four years (revised to five years in 1946) and the period of study after graduation from the senior department of national schools at three years. Although vocational schools contributed to the development of modern industry in Japan as secondary schools, they always tended to be viewed as a collateral branch of the school system.

[Manomiya Yu]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1947年（昭和22）4月1日に法律上廃止された各種の実業教育機関の総称。1872年（明治5）の「学制」のなかで中学の一種としてあげられた工業学校、商業学校、農業学校等にその源をみることができる。しかし実際には、その体系化は、1883年の農学校通則や翌年の商業学校通則に始まり、93年の実業補習学校規程や翌年の徒弟学校規程あるいは簡易農業学校規程を経て進められ、99年の「実業学校令」によって制度上初めて統一的な位置が与えられた。この勅令では、工業、農業、商業、商船、実業補習のための5種類の学校があげられた。一般に甲種、乙種に分かれ、甲種は高等小学校卒業者を入学資格として修業年限3年、乙種は尋常小学校卒業後3年とされた。その後、1920年（大正9）の実業学校令の改正によって、甲種・乙種の区別を廃止するとともに、修業年限5年の実業学校も認めるようになり、また24年の改正では、尋常小学校卒業後の修業年限を5年、高等小学校卒業後の修業年限を3年とした。さらに1943年（昭和18）には、中等学校令の制定によって、実業学校を中学校および高等女学校と制度的に同格の中等学校と定め、国民学校初等科卒業後の修業年限を4年（1946年に5年と改正）、国民学校高等科卒業後の修業年限を3年とした。実業学校は、中等学校としてわが国の近代産業の発展に貢献してきたが、学校系統のうえではつねに傍系視される傾向が強かった。

［真野宮雄］

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