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A man in Osaka taught junior high school for 15 years without ever obtaining his teaching credential.
The Osaka Board of Education announced on Feb 21 that it is terminating the employment of one of its instructors. The 45-year-old former social studies teacher has admitted to forging his teaching certificate. “I was always worried that I was going to be caught soon,” said the man, whose name has not been released.
The terminated teacher says that prior to beginning his tenure he had told a number of acquaintances that he was going to become a teacher. However, he failed to graduate from college, much less pass the test required to become a licensed educator. Undaunted, the man applied for a job teaching in Osaka. Since he knew he would be asked to produce a copy of his teaching certificate if the interview process went well, he borrowed the paperwork from a friend who had obtained the certification, using it to create a forgery with his own name and date of birth.
The trickery went unnoticed, and the man began a teaching career that would span 15 years at four different Osaka municipal middle schools. It wasn’t until last month that his transgression came to light during the renewal process for his certification. He once again submitted his falsified documentation, but when the paperwork was checked against the electronic database, the clerk discovered that the certificate number was already registered to another teacher. The man was then questioned about the discrepancy, and subsequently admitted to his past wrongdoing.
Aside from releasing the man from his position, the Osaka Board of Education is currently consulting with criminal investigators about the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the man for repayment of his illicitly earned wages, and there’s also a chance he’ll have to face charges for forgery and violating the instructor licensing system.
The one silver lining to the embarrassing incident is a statement from the Board asserting that the graduations of students taught by the fraudulent educator will be upheld.
A representative from Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology was astonished by the revelation, saying: “We’ve never heard of someone going 15 years without a license.” We imagine the ousted teacher’s newfound notoriety will have him firmly entrenched in the organization’s memory from now on, and encourage him not to seek his next job in one of the several fields that fall under the Ministry’s jurisdiction.
Source: Yahoo! Japan
Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Care for a cream puff? Osaka elementary school teachers allegedly serial drugged by colleague -- It’s Never Too Late to Learn: 98-Year-Old University Student Puts the Youth of Today to Shame -- Japanese Teacher Suspended for Hugging Students While Singing to Them
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24 Comments
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jpntdytmrow
And yet, talento don't need any actual talento to be on TV or stage. Funny, that.
HonestBloke
If he was not qualified, the administrators should have noticed by his conduct, perhaps even as early as the interview. If anyone here is not qualified, its the administrators or nobody.
titaniumdioxide
For 15 years? Give him his deserved license. He is proven!
James Dean Jnr.
What he did in the first place was wrong, but 15 years without incident? He actively persued his dream, didn't srcrew anyone over on the way and proved his worth. He should be punished for his pas transgressions, but forcing him to pay back 15 years of sallary is unreasonable. A nice big fine would do the trick, then go on with his life.
lucabrasi
My (sadly deceased) uncle got a job with the post office in England after forging a birth certificate.
The maximum age was forty and he was well into his fifties. But he did a great job and was well-loved by his customers.
Sometimes rules are just a bit unnecessary....
Aaron Loki Brummett
School of Rock, the movie, the exact same thing occurred. I don;t think it was right for them to fire him. He seems to be one of the very few teachers who has any passion.
frenchosa
Twenty - five years back, my chemistry teacher in high school claimed he had a PHD, he didn't graduate from college. He new his chemistry pretty well.
Sensato
Tip of the iceberg, methinks. Not only in Japan, but worldwide.
This type of fraud is quite prevalent everywhere, and much easier to catch now than was the case even 10 years ago.
HongoTAFEinmate
the Osaka Board of Education is currently consulting with criminal investigators about the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the man for repayment of his illicitly earned wages
Doesn't that just some things up. There is no question as to whether or not the guy grew into his job and could actually teach. No, the Board of Education (no doubt under the direction of Sturmbannfurhrer Hashimoto) are not just content with dismissing this guy, they want their pound of flesh as well.
dracpoo2
I find this whole thing so funny. This particular BOE is known to be really strict on its teachers when it comes to their leave and how many days off they get, even when classes are out. The teachers have to sign for every single minute taken. They are pretty thorough with holidays. If a teacher is late a few minutes, an HOUR gets deducted from their holidays or salary...... I really think they should use the same type of no nonsense approach in making sure their teachers are who they say they are...
igloobuyer
Really given that Japanese school teachers get relatively little training at all before being given a teaching 'license' I doubt there would be any little difference between him and other teachers anyway. Teaching in Japan is largely on-the-job-training based.
USNinJapan2
But more importantly, did he have a tattoo?
ratpack
I wish the reporter would have taken the initiative and interviewed both some of his current students as well as his past students and found out what type of teacher he was. That would have added more to the story and reduced the speculation.
Amidalism
If they are letting the students graduate and there were no complaints big enough to bring this issue to light in the past 15 years then I don't see how they can try and get the money back from him. Sounds like he did a good enough job to earn that money. Sounds more like the school is at fault for not looking into their employee's certification properly to begin with. Sure he may have forged his certification, but he was still doing a job which was helping further the education of hundreds of students, so I can't exactly see him in the same group as identity theft criminals who are just trying to steal from other people's bank accounts.
slumdog
It seems possible. What I want to know is why the Osaka Board of Education did not notice this when he renewed his fake teaching license or why they did not notice he never renewed it if he didn't. This is a major cock-up for the Osaka Board of Education.
Ms. Alexander
I agree with others - he probably was a good teacher!
Maria -I was told by my son's teacher(s) that in Japan, teachers in public schools are made to transfer every 3 oto 5 years. The same applies to public daycares as well. Not sure why.
Maria
They are hardly "illicitly earned" - he did the work, he got paid.
They should have checked everyone's documentation more regularly and thoroughly. They're lucky he isn't a nutter.
Does anyone know if 15 years at 4 different schools is par for the course, or more transfer than usual?
Cortes Elijah
This just goes to show this country follows rules before common sense to it's own liking. This guy obviously proved the system wrong and showed he could do the job... Yet they want to claim his pay back? Yet the students get to keep their degree? How the hell does that work? What does that say? It says that the system doesn't give a SH*T about you.
Yeah lets just take 15 years of money back from some dude = he will be financially screwed for the rest of his life and maybe suicide.
jpntdytmrow
Bet he was a good teacher!
TrevorPeace1
What do his students say? Where are they today?
Disillusioned
He was probably a better teacher than half of them with certification.
slumdog
It is also possible that he has proven that it is possible to continue in a job for 15 years that could not really do, but it did not matter because everyone thought he had the correct piece of paper.
HonestBloke
Bizarre. He has proven he can do the job by doing the job for 15 years. They want a piece of paper that states he can do the job from a period that came before he ever actually did the job.
Its a mad, mad world.