【疑問】中学校の健康診断でブラジャー外す指示 なぜ？【ナガエのギモン】（2022年7月22日）

"My middle school daughter was instructed to remove her underwear during her school health checkup. She did so, but said she felt very uncomfortable afterward." The other day, we received a phone call from our program. So, here's the question for today: "Is it necessary to remove underwear during a school health checkup?" First, let's recap the contents of the call. The caller was a woman living in the Mikawa region, with a daughter in her first year of middle school. Let's call her Ms. A. Last month, a health checkup was conducted for Ms. A and other first-year students. This included an internal medical examination to more closely examine their nutritional status and physical abnormalities. Apparently, the following instruction was given during the checkup: "Please remove your bra." By the way, this internal medical examination was conducted separately for boys and girls, and the doctor in charge was male. Ms. A followed the instructions, removed her bra, and pulled up her gym clothes to her neck, and then underwent the checkup in this state. However, Ms. A felt very uncomfortable about the situation, and told her mother about it when she got home. The mother also wondered, "Was it really necessary to remove her underwear?" and asked the school for an explanation. Later, the vice principal and others visited Ms. A's home and explained, "The reason we had her remove her underwear was to thoroughly examine her, whether she had atopic dermatitis, whether there were any abnormalities in her spine, and so on." How do you feel about this explanation, Okada? (Announcer: Okada) I completely understand why Ms. A felt uncomfortable. The question now is how to interpret the school's explanation. That's right. We spoke to an expert on this point. Professor Takako Sakai of the Department of Child Care at Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences said, "It is considered preferable to remove the upper body when examining for skin diseases, spinal and thoracic diseases and abnormalities, and whether there has been abuse." In other words, it seems that having the upper body naked does indeed have some benefits, such as increasing the accuracy of the examination and making it easier to detect abuse. However, she also cautions, "We must not forget the importance of protecting privacy." In fact, last March, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) issued a notice to schools nationwide entitled "Points to Note When Performing Examinations Involving Undressing." Here's one of the notices. "To the extent that it doesn't interfere with examinations or tests, sufficient consideration should be given to protecting the privacy of students and other individuals in accordance with their developmental stage." This is what the notice states, but when I asked an MEXT official, they said, "The actual implementation is left to the discretion of the doctor conducting the health examination." This developmentally appropriate consideration can be quite difficult. Associate Professor Asuka Nomura of Nagoya University, who specializes in child psychology, says, "Elementary and junior high school students are going through major changes in their minds and bodies, and they may feel uneasy about their own bodies. Having others suddenly see their bodies can cause great anxiety." After explaining this, she goes on to say the following about how to take these considerations into account: The key is to provide "advance explanation" to parents and the children themselves. Specifically, she says, "The 'intention,' 'necessity,' and 'method' of the examination must be thoroughly explained in advance and understood before the examination is carried out." Regarding school health checkups, including underwear removal, Professor Satoshi Kodama of Kyoto University, an expert in ethics, had this to say: "Policies vary by region and school, causing confusion. It would be ideal for the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and medical associations to create and publish guidelines based on scientific evidence." In fact, questions have been raised across the country about removing underwear during health checkups. Is there a way to reach a consensus? The debate may deepen further in the future. #school #underwear #NagaeAsami ▼Subscribe to our channel here↓↓Please support us!    / @aichi-news   ▼Official News Social Media ◇Twitter (Information provided here)   / news_tva   ◇TikTok 　　  / tva_news   [Major News Programs] ▼5-ji-Sta: Monday-Friday, 5:00 PM - 5:25 PM We deliver the latest news from a perspective that closely relates to everyday life. https://tv-aichi.co.jp/5sta/ ▼TXN News: Saturday-Sunday, 5:20 PM - 5:30 PM We deliver the latest news from Japan and around the world in a concise format. ▼Video provided here https://tv-aichi.co.jp/newspost/