Japanese parents are up in arms against a practice that requires students to strip down to the waist for health examinations. Children report feeling uncomfortable and even traumatised when asked to go topless for the annual health checkup. Students, both boys and girls, as young as 5 and as old as 18 are required to comply with the directive and residents now want it to end, The Guardian reported.
“Before the exam our teacher told us we would have to lift up our tops and bra … I didn’t want to do it but I couldn’t say no,” a female student told The Guardian.
The practice has triggered anger among parents who have demanded the education and health authorities end it before the new session begins in April.
Noriko Tabuchi, a city councillor in Matsuyama, says she has met several other girls who were told to remove their tops for the health examination. She says they feel anxiety and aren’t able to share it with their parents.
However, this is not a unanimous practice since there is no unified policy on whether the students need to undress or not. Local education boards reach a consensus on the same after discussing it with visiting health professionals. While some schools let the children remain in clothes, others insist on stripping them to the waist.
Lifelong trauma
According to surveys, most teachers want it to end. As per a poll of middle schoolchildren, aged 12-16, 95.5 per cent of participants were unhappy about removing their clothes.
“The health exams can have serious repercussions for children,” Akiyo Tanaka, a city councillor in Nishinomiya, told The Guardian. “Some of them continue to experience trauma into adulthood.”
Those campaigning for the practice to end say they face resistance from the Japan Medical Association. Education officials are also not prepared to counter the body, with one person telling the publication on condition of anonymity that “In some cases, doctors, who are almost always men, have threatened to stop performing the exams if they are forced to change the procedure.”
“Children are in no position to refuse. The schools are really concerned about this and want something to be done.”
Why have topless health examinations?
Invasive health checkups started in some parts of Japan during the years of postwar austerity. Schools were assigned the responsibility of ensuring that children were healthy. Doctors say topless exams are essential to check for signs of atopic dermatitis, heart irregularities and other conditions.
In Yokohama, the education ministry requested boards of education to “establish a medical examination environment with consideration for the privacy and feelings of the students”. But, at least 16 primary schools continue to ask children to undress.
The notice further asked for separate examinations for boys and girls. It states the need for a partition or curtains, and for teachers and staff of the same sex as the children to be present. Parents and guardians should also be given advance notice if the practitioner requires children to raise their shirts for an accurate diagnosis.
