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       SAGA -- Around 40 male and female first-year students at a public junior high school in this southwest Japan city were subject to dress code checks on Sept. 2 to confirm whether they were wearing undershirts, the Mainichi Shimbun learned from the school on Sept. 10.

       Yamato Junior High School in the city of Saga said it has rules relating to wearing undershirts, and that teaching staff of the same gender as students checked them by having female students turn up their shirts of sailor-outfit uniforms, and having male students open their open-collared shirts at the collar to confirm they were wearing undershirts. Following the reporting of the practices, the school has said it "wishes to review" it in future.

       According to the school's vice principal, the undershirt checks held on the day in question were done per homeroom class. In the hallway in front of the classroom, the boys and girls were put in separate lines about 10 meters apart and made to face the wall while teachers inspected each student visually.

       On the morning of Sept. 10, the school's principal issued an apology to the students via the building's broadcasting system. A letter of explanation was also issued to pupils' guardians. On the same evening, teachers discussed future points for improvement. It was reportedly decided that from hereon, students will have to self-declare whether they are wearing undershirts.

       In response to a request for comment from the Mainichi Shimbun, the Saga Municipal Board of Education stated: "We have instructed Yamato junior high to give consideration to their students' human rights." A notification advising consideration of students' human rights during dress code checks was issued on the same date to all of the city's municipal elementary and junior high schools.

       (Japanese original by Hiroyuki Takahashi, Saga Bureau)

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