Overview
- Tokyo’s education board presented a skeleton guideline to an expert panel on November 6 that formalizes responses to abusive or excessive demands by parents.
- Initial contacts are limited to scheduling only, meetings are confined to weekday after-school slots for up to 30 minutes, and both phone calls and in-person conversations are recorded.
- The draft sets a stepwise response: two teachers handle the first two meetings, school management leads from the third, lawyers or psychologists join from the fourth, and a lawyer acts as the sole representative from the fifth.
- For conduct beyond social norms, schools would respond with around five staff members, and clear verbal abuse, violence, or refusal to leave would prompt notification to police.
- The plan includes psychological care for affected staff and builds on Tokyo’s April anti–customer harassment ordinance, with reports citing 23% of teachers experiencing verbal abuse.