News Language school punished for locking up Vietnamese student

[thomas]

Language schools must be quite desperate when resorting to metal chains and padlocks to retain their students. Anyhow, it doesn't look like we know all the details.

Immigration authorities on Sept. 7 banned a Japanese language school in Fukuoka from accepting new foreign enrollees after a Vietnamese student who wanted to quit was locked in room and monitored to prevent his escape. The Immigration Services Agency of Japan said the 630 or so current students at the Nishinihon International Education Institute in Fukuoka will be encouraged to transfer to other Japanese language schools. According to the agency, the trouble started after a Vietnamese student in his 20s expressed his desire to quit the school in October 2021. On Oct. 25 that year, staff members asked the student about his wishes in a faculty room. But when the student tried to leave, staff members detained the student for few hours in the room by using a metal chain and a padlock. Other school workers were in the room, but nobody tried to free the student. After the student returned to a dormitory room in the evening, staff monitored him from outside the room to ensure he would not run away, according to the agency.

Fukuoka school punished for locking up Vietnamese man | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

 

[Lomaster]

I have a strong feeling that some important details of the story are missing. Surely the school would not lock a student just for wishing to leave the school.
Yeah, and good luck to 630 or so students finding another language school to transfer too.
I wish more people realized how difficult it is to run a language school in Japan.
And don`t forget that every incident like this one only makes it more difficult for future Vietnamese students to enroll. Just like with that Sri-Lankan girl who died in custody. Her family made such a great fuss, that it became more difficult for Sri-Lankans to get long-term visas.

 

[thomas]

Whatever happened at the language school, they had no right to confine a student. I'm sure they thought the student would bail and seek employment. The case of the Sri Lankan lady is tragic indeed. Not because her family made a fuss but because the immigration authorities failed to accord her proper medical care. Even her sisters were not allowed to watch the video showing the events that led to her death. It wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that there was a cover-up.

Sri Lankan woman dies in detention, wrote about her hunger | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

 

[thomas]

More info in the article linked below.

The school has admitted to restraining the student but described the behavior by its staff member as "a prank without bad intentions." The staff member in question has already resigned.

Japanese language school decertified over abuse of Vietnamese student

Japan's immigration agency stripped a Japanese language school of its certification Wednesday after it found a staff member physically restrained a Vietnamese student last October. The staff member at the Nishinihon International Education Institute in the southwestern city of Fukuoka was found...

japantoday.com

 

[Grandpa Frank]

A goat must be sacrificed so the guilty can look good , LOL.

 

[Lothor]

I have a strong feeling that some important details of the story are missing. Surely the school would not lock a student just for wishing to leave the school.
Yeah, and good luck to 630 or so students finding another language school to transfer too.
I wish more people realized how difficult it is to run a language school in Japan.
And don`t forget that every incident like this one only makes it more difficult for future Vietnamese students to enroll. Just like with that Sri-Lankan girl who died in custody. Her family made such a great fuss, that it became more difficult for Sri-Lankans to get long-term visas.

I hadn't heard about it becoming more difficult for Sri Lankans to get long-term visas. Can you provide a link for that? I did try to find something but couldn't.

Also, are you suggesting that Vietnamese people or Sri Lankans who have been badly treated (even to the point of being killed) shouldn't kick up a fuss to avoid possible reprisals on other Vietnamese people or Sri Lankans?

The difficulties of running a language school should not be used to justify inhumane behaviour.

 

[Lomaster]

Sure, just let every criminal sue the Japanese Government for millions of yens. No wonder police and judges are lukewarm at addressing the foreigners crime issue.

 

[thomas]

Yesterday, the Fukuoka High Court overturned a central government decision to revoke the certification of a Japanese language school for the restraint of a Vietnamese student in 2021, ruling in favour of the operator of the Nishinihon International Education Institute in Fukuoka and reversing an earlier judgment.

In 2024, the Fukuoka District Court upheld a September 2022 decision by the Immigration Services Agency to revoke the school's certification for human rights violations. Presiding Judge Takeshi Okada said the student had been chained and physically restrained by a former staff member, but one individual carried out the act. Although other staff had allowed it to happen, he said it could not be regarded as something the organisation as a whole had tolerated.

The district court in July 2024 had found that the restraint was tolerated at an organizational level, deeming the immigration agency's move to revoke the school's certification to be appropriate. The school appealed, arguing that there was no organizational involvement. It also sought a suspension of the decertification's enforcement, which the high court granted in August 2024 until a final verdict was reached. According to the ruling, a male former staff member restrained the student for about two hours in October 2021, using a chain and padlock connected to the person's belt. Police referred the man's case to prosecutors alleging he abducted and confined the student, but it was decided he would not be indicted in March 2023.

High court overturns Japan school decertification in student abuse case - The Mainichi

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) -- A high court on Wednesday overturned a central government decision to decertify a Japanese language school over tolerating the chai

mainichi.jp