BY MIZUHO ITO

According to the newspapers, the Diet recently discussed about the importance of voluntary work and introducing voluntary work into school education as a required subject. Voluntary work has already become a required credit for students who want to get a teaching certificate at the junior high school level.

There are four municipal institutions for mentally handicapped people in Sapporo. I did research on voluntary work at one of the institutions. I visited Kashiwa Gakuen near Sapporo University and interviewed Ms. Tahara and Ms. Hattori, two staff members at the institution. Kashiwa Gakuen provides short-term training to students who aim to be nurses or social workers. When holding events like an athletic meet, Kashiwa Gakuen asks for volunteers' help. Some people become very interested in welfare activities after the training or the voluntary work provided at the institution. And not a few of them find welfare related jobs.

Mr. Yuzuru Honma, who is a voluntary worker for mentally handicapped people, said, " I have accompanied mentally handicapped students from high school and junior high school on their school trips, and assisted them during athletic meets. In recent years, young volunteers have increased on such occasions. " According to Mr. Honma, many mentally handicapped people also need wheelchairs because of their disabilities. Mr. Honma, as a result, pushes their wheelchairs and helps them to get on and off buses. Disabled people usually have difficulties using wheelchairs because many places are not equipped with proper facilities for the disabled. Therefore, lifting wheelchairs on many occasions is necessary for Mr. Honma, and it requires a certain amount of strength. At a time like this, young people's help is very important.

Increasing numbers of young volunteers may be the result that people's awareness of voluntary work has grown. Today, there are many schools introducing voluntary work as a part of school education. Yet, Mr. Honma, Ms. Tahara, Ms. Hattori said they would not like students doing voluntary work only for the purpose of getting good grades or credit. Voluntary work should be an activity of one's own free will, but shouldn't be obligatory. Students also should be taught the essence and the meaning of voluntary work at their school.

At the end of the interview, Mr. Honma said, " Doing voluntary work is much different from what you have ever imagined, and that is why I would like more people to experience what real volunteerism is." In order to make his hope come true, we have to make a society where more people are interested in and actively participate in volunteer work.