Fukuroi school loses ledgers for 6,631 graduates; city says mistaken disposal likely
In short
The Fukuroi city education board in Shizuoka Prefecture said the graduation certificate award ledgers at Fukuroi North Elementary School are missing, covering 6,631 graduates from the year the records began through the 1988 school year. The board said the ledgers, which city rules require be kept permanently, were most likely disposed of by mistake while documents past their retention period were being cleared. The school concluded the ledgers are lost after a search and interviews with former staff, and the city says there was no external leak of personal information.
Why it matters
The missing ledgers are the record the school used to confirm graduation when former students requested certificates, so their loss affects how quickly and reliably those requests can be handled. The city says it will rebuild the information from graduation rosters and junior high school ledgers, so the practical impact depends on what those secondary records contain. The case concerns record-keeping obligations at a public elementary school in Shizuoka Prefecture, and the city says no other school in Fukuroi reported a similar loss.
Key facts
- The graduation certificate award ledgers at Fukuroi North Elementary School in Shizuoka Prefecture are missing, covering 6,631 graduates from the start of the records through the 1988 school year. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- The ledgers list graduates' names and dates of birth; TBS NEWS DIG says they also include guardian names, and Mainichi Shimbun says they include graduation certificate numbers. [ 1 , 2 ]
- City school management rules require the ledgers to be kept permanently. [ 2 , 3 ]
- The city education board said the ledgers were highly likely disposed of by mistake when documents past their retention period were being cleared. [ 2 , 3 ]
- The ledgers still available begin with certificate number 6632, according to Mainichi Shimbun. [ 2 ]
- The city said there was no external leak of personal information, and that no other school in Fukuroi — 11 elementary and four junior high schools — reported a similar loss. [ 2 ]
- Tanaka Shin, head of the school education division at the city education board, said restoration work will proceed using graduation rosters and junior high school ledgers so the city can respond to requests. [ 2 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- The Fukuroi city education board announced that Fukuroi North Elementary School lost graduation certificate award ledgers covering 6,631 graduates, from the year the records began through the 1988 school year. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- The ledgers contain graduates' personal information including names and dates of birth. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- City rules require the ledgers to be preserved permanently. [ 2 , 3 ]
- The education board said the ledgers were most likely disposed of by mistake during the clearing of documents past their retention period. [ 2 , 3 ]
- The loss was noticed after a graduate requested a graduation certificate in September last year, and a second request followed this September. [ 2 , 3 ]
Still unclear
- Whether the ledgers were in fact disposed of, and when they went missing. The education board says mistaken disposal is highly likely, not confirmed, and the documents give no date or circumstances for when the records disappeared.
- How completely the lost records can be restored. The city says it will rebuild the information from graduation rosters and junior high school ledgers, but the documents do not say how much of the 6,631 entries can be recovered or how long it will take.
- The school year of the second certificate request, given by Mainichi Shimbun as the 66th school year. This detail appears in only one document and the year it refers to is not explained.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- A graduate of the 1988 school year requests a graduation certificate; staff check the school safe and cannot find ledgers for the 1988 school year or earlier, and issue the certificate using graduation photographs and the junior high school's ledgers. [ 2 ]
- A second graduate requests a graduation certificate; one is again issued using photographs and other records. [ 2 ]
- TBS NEWS DIG reports that the ledgers for about 6,600 graduates are missing, citing the Fukuroi city education board. [ 1 ]
- Mainichi Shimbun reports the city's announcement, including the 6,631 figure, the likely mistaken disposal and the city's restoration plan. [ 2 ]
- Sankei Shimbun reports the city education board's announcement that personal information on 6,631 graduates was lost. [ 3 ]