SGH(Super Global High-school)

Producing global leaders to accomplish revitalization after the nuclear disaster

   Our school was approved by MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) as a Super Global High School.　　In the first year, students search for local problems and express them through drama and other means. 　In the second year, they study at locations both inside and outside Japan, including Germany and America. 　In the third year, with a theme relating to revitalizationof the local area, they deepen their study and make suggestions inside and outside Japan based on their research results.

Report for 2015 Super Global High School Program

1.    Title of Research and Development Plan

Development of Global Leaders for Revitalization after Nuclear Disaster

2.    Objectives and Goals of the R&D

(1) Objectives

   The Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident brought a great disaster to people not only in Futaba Districtbut also in all of Fukushima Prefecture.  Even now, more than 110,000 people are forced to live outside their hometown and Futaba’s infrastructure for life and industries has not been functioning.

   Education in Soma and Futaba Area had been halted due to the nuclear power plant disaster. Schools there, including Futaba High School, Namie High School, Namie High School Tsushima Branch, Tomioka High School and Futaba Shoyo High School, were no longer able to hold classes at their original premises.  They restarted their classes and club activities at temporary satellite schools opened in other distant schools borrowing a part of their facilities with the support from the organizations concerned.  However, the educational environment at those temporary schools was not sufficient.  To improve the situation, those schools decided to stop accepting new students, and a new school named “Futaba Future High School” was founded in 2015 in Hirono Town, Futaba District where the evacuation order had been lifted.

   Why did the accident happen?  Why did people have to leave their hometowns and be separated from their families?  Why are they still unable to return to their homes?  When can they return?  How can they overcome this situation?  These questions are common not only to students taking refuge but to everyone in Fukushima Prefecture.  Futaba Future High School is the only school in the world that is expected to make efforts to address these questions and come up with answers to them.  We are determined to actively tackle local and global issues such as the nuclear power plant disaster and the revitalization.

   In addition, by appealing to people in Japan and overseas regarding the recovery from the nuclear power plant disaster, we try to draw the world’s attention to Fukushima, provide people with deeper knowledge about the accident, keep it fresh in their minds, and wipe out the damage caused by rumors.

   Finally, we produce human resources to contribute to the revitalization.  As an example, some graduates from Futaba Future High School might start enterprises for renewable energy development and successfully help the society.  In seeing this, students in our school will be inspired to launch new businesses after their graduation.  Through this chain of aspiration, they will be able to play active roles in the rebirth of Futaba District and take pride in it.

   In this research and development, we cultivate the skill of seeing various dimensions in complicated matters with a global perspective.  Also, through exploring the ways to revitalize the area and prevent the accident from recurring, we help students acquire critical thinking skills, make sound judgment and be creative. 　In addition, students will be trained to express themselves and take action by appealing to people in Japan and overseas regarding their ideas for revitalization, as well as methods to realize those ideas.  As a consequence, we will promote global leaders that can solve both local and global problems.

(2) Goals

   We aim to develop global leaders who can be active locally and globally by facing the unprecedented nuclear power plant disaster and examining the accident to come up with measures to prevent its recurrence, while working in cooperation with organizations concerned and making suggestions for revitalization to every quarter.

   As a method to work on the challenges, we effectively introduce Active Learning and emphasize self-motivated research, which enables students to perform fieldwork actively.   In the class, students will have group discussion and group work.  They will participate in Open School workshops for high school students and meet students from other schools.  This Open School project is hosted by Minami Soma Solar Agri-park (a hub facility for revitalization located in the area stricken by the tsunami) to support the growth of local children and promote interaction with people from across the country.  The students will take part in Global Youth Camp, held at JICA Nihonmatsu Training Center, and interact with other trainees to learn how to solve local problems from a global perspective.  We work closely with Fukushima University and hold workshops working with students there.  In these workshops, they find that solving a local problem can lead to solving a worldwide problem.  In this way, we motivate students to improve the local area they live in, as well as the whole world that is connected to Fukushima.  Our goal is to produce human resources such as entrepreneurs and personnel at international organizations with high awareness for the betterment of the world.

3.    Overview of R&D

   We pursue a curriculum that enables students to practice what they have learned by incorporating Active Learning effectively in all subjects. We set a requirement of 2 credits for “Industrial Society and its People”, and 2 credits for one of the following subjects the school offers: “Academic”, “Top Athletes” and “Specialist”, and 5 credits for the “Integrated Study”.  Students will develop skills to think logically and express their opinions, which are essential to global leaders.

   Students will apply what they have studied in school about the nuclear disaster recovery to their project studies in the “Integrated Study”.

   Through opportunities to present what they have achieved at home and abroad, students will become adept at giving presentations and expressing themselves.

   There are five study groups: Study Group for Nuclear Accident Prevention, Study Group for Renewable Energy, Study Group for Media Communication, Study Group for Agri-business, and Study Group for Sports and Health. Students will work together with other study groups, which will enable them to broaden their horizons, overcome the nuclear accident and revitalize the area.