Bilingly Reporter Comments(0) Published on Dec. 16, 2022, 6:02 p.m.

Lawsuit filed to halt funding for corporate-run English speaking test in Tokyo schools

TOKYO -- A group of parents and education workers is suing the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to halt public funding for a private company-administered English speaking test used for high school entrance exams.

The suit was filed at the Tokyo District Court on Nov. 21. According to the complaint, the plaintiffs claim the Benesse Corp. test's scoring is dubious, and maintain that it should not be used in high school entrance assessments because its fairness and transparency cannot be assured. Further, they allege that the way students' personal information is collected and handled violates local ordinances. They are asking the Tokyo government to cease payment of some 467 million yen (about $3.3 million) to the educational services company.

Students who do not take the speaking test are awarded the average score achieved by students at a similar level. Students' levels are determined by their performance on another test of English ability.

One of the 17 plaintiffs, Musashino University professor Hirokazu Ouchi, told reporters, "There is no data to correlate the two tests. There's no basis for the scores given." He emphasized that it's possible for good students to get bad scores, and vice-versa.

The plaintiffs had previously asked the metro government to halt the test's funding through a "Citizen Petition for Audit," but the request was turned down by Tokyo's Secretariat to the Audit and Inspection Commissioners on Oct. 27.

The speaking test is to be administered to third-year public junior high school students on Nov. 27.