Japan: Award Ceremony Held for Nurturing the Heart Activity for Children

The Panasonic Education Foundation held an award ceremony for the FY2023 Nurturing the Heart Activity for Children on February 9. The award ceremony was attended by 45 people, including award winners, special guest Kazuhiro Yagi, director of social education promotion, Education Policy Bureau, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, members of the Forum for Nurturing the Spirit (Chairperson Kiyokazu Washida and others), and so forth.

Since the Foundation was established in 2005, the Forum for Nurturing the Spirit has held symposiums and published proposals considering the nature of the spiritual heart of the Japanese people, together with members active in various fields. In 2008 the Foundation started to give awards to NPOs, social welfare corporations, and regional private organizations active in unique ways to nurture the hearts of children throughout Japan. Since 2019 it has continued these awards through its second term members chaired by Kiyokazu Washida (professor emeritus of Osaka University). It has given 132 awards by end of FY2022.

FY2023 there were 198 entries nationwide for the Nurturing the Heart Activity for Children, from which eight were chosen for awards: the nationwide top award (one), excellence awards (five), and special awards (two). At Minami Yoshida Elementary School of Yokohama, which won the nationwide top award, 54% of the children are foreign nationals. The school is nurturing consideration through various activities to respect diversity, such as greetings in different languages and international reading circles primarily through the student assembly.

The selection committee members praised the school's efforts highly. "The many and energetic and creative innovations of the student assembly involve adults as well and are much enjoyed by the children, giving a foretaste of a future model for Japan."

The networking event after the award ceremony featured speeches by the forum members and introduction of activities by the award winners, deepening friendship all round.