An astronaut, former Olympians, a renowned international architect and a rising politician are part of the star power that will conduct classes and assist extracurricular activities at a school to open next year in Futaba county, which hosts the embattled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
An astronaut, former Olympians, a renowned international architect and a rising politician are part of the star power that will conduct classes and assist extracurricular activities at a school to open next year in Futaba county, which hosts the embattled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The 11-member guest staff will include astronaut Naoko Yamazaki, hurdler Dai Tamesue, architect Tadao Ando, politician Shinjiro Koizumi, writer Hirotada Ototake, badminton player Reiko Shiota and playwright Oriza Hirata.
The Reconstruction Agency announced the lineup on July 10. The prefectural school serving junior and high school levels will open in April in Hirono, a town in Futaba county in Fukushima Prefecture. The town is located between 20 kilometers and 30 km from the plant.
The establishment of the school is part of an initiative to rebuild the region ravaged by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. The move for guest staffers to help out at the school came after local education officials in May called for the creation of such a program.
Koizumi, a Reconstruction Agency parliamentary secretary, delivered the news in person when he visited the Tomioka board of education in Koriyama. The board shifted its offices there from the town of Tomioka after the nuclear disaster unfolded in March 2011.
“We want to give a boost to children who are struggling in an environment that the nation has not previously seen,” said Koizumi, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the Lower House and a son of popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. “We want to be of assistance in creating a model school.”
The team will offer up to 100 hours a year to conduct classroom sessions and coach after-school sports clubs.
The guest staff is expected to add more members.
Eight localities constitute Futaba county, including Futaba and Okuma, which co-host the plant. Many students in the district remain evacuees from the nuclear disaster and are still attending classes in makeshift schools.