Kyoto Prefectural Girls Vocational Training School (under the old education system) (京都府立女子専門学校 (旧制))
Kyoto Prefectural Girls' Vocational Training School was a public vocational school founded under the old education system in March 1927.
Summary
It was a vocational school for girls and was established in response to requests from the locals such as the alumni association of the Kyoto Prefectural Kyoto First Higher Girls' school (present-day Kyoto Prefectural Oki High School).
At the time it was founded, it offered regular courses (three-year courses) at the Department of Literature and Department of Science (Domestic Science and Science Courses).
It later evolved into the Faculty of Letters and Domestic Science, (Kyoto Prefectural) Saikyo University (present-day Faculty of Letters, Faculty of Welfare Society, and Faculty of Human Environment, Kyoto Prefectural University) which was established under the new system of education.
Its alumni association, 'Alumni Association of Kyoto Prefectural University,' is made up of graduates from schools under both new and old systems.
History
March 30, 1927: Establishment of Kyoto Prefectural Girls' Vocational Training School was approved by the Acts of Colleges (under the Public Notice of the Ministry of Education No. 154).
They had said in their application for establishment that the campus was to be opened in Matsugasaki Village, Otagi District, Kyoto Prefecture (present-day Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City).
April 1, 1927: Kyoto Prefectural Girls' Vocational Training School was inaugurated. First entrance ceremony was held on 25th.
Those who had finished a five-year girls' high school or those who had equivalent ability were admitted to the school and three years of study were required for completing regular courses.
The school had a Department of Literature and a Department of Science (Domestic Science and Science Courses).
It operated in a temporary campus which formerly had been used as a campus for non-degree courses for graduates of Kyoto Prefectural Kyoto First Higher Girls' School.
The Kyoto Prefectural Girls' Vocational Training School opened during the height of the Showa Depression. The Kyoto Prefectural Government was faced with severe financial difficulties, and the school could not acquire its own campus. Enrollment also remained low. The Rikken Minsei-to political party, which had a majority in the Kyoto Prefectural Assembly, presented the budget to the Regular Prefectural Assembly Session in the fall of 1931, and the budget proposed included stopping the Kyoto Prefectural Girls' Vocational Training School from accepting applications for the 1932 school year.
October 31, 1931: Newspapers reported that the Kyoto Prefectural Girls' Vocational Training School would be abolished.
November 11, 1931: Its parents' association adopted a resolution opposing the abolishment and formed an Executive Committee for preventing closure of the school.
Educational Society of Kyoto Prefecture issued a statement saying it opposed the abolishment of the school.
November 15, 1931: Kyoto Women's Association passed a resolution against the abolishment of the Girls' Vocational Training School.
November 19, 1931: The Civil Administration Club had softened its stance, saying it would allow the school to continue its operation if there was a donation that could pay for the operation.
November 21, 1931: Shinkeihan Railway (present-day Hankyu Corporation) offered to donate a site for the campus.
December 9, 1931: The Civil Administration Club changed its position to permit the continued operation of the Girls' Vocational Training School.
December 16, 1931: Kyoto Prefectural Assembly passed a resolution to keep the Girls' Vocational Training School going and the budget to build a new campus.
April 1933: The school was relocated to Katsura, Ukyo Ward, Kyoto City. After that, it was also known as Katsura Girls' Vocational Training School.
The Science Course, Department of Science was abolished, and the Domestic Science Course, Department of Science was renamed the Sewing Course, Department of Home Economics Education. The Home Economics Education Course was added to the Department of Home Economics Education.
March 1943: Department of Science was opened.
April 1943: Department of Literature was renamed Department of Japanese Linguistics, and the Home Economics Education Course, Department of Home Economics Education was renamed the Health Care Course, Department of Home Economics Education.
April 1944: Department of Science was renamed Department of Physics and Chemistry, and the Sewing Course, Department of Home Economics Education was renamed the Clothing Course, Department of Home Economics Education.
October 1947: Health Care Course, Department of Home Economics Education was renamed Department of Life Environment Studies.
July 1948: An application was made to the Ministry of Education for establishing a prefectural university under the new system, based on the Kyoto Prefectural Vocational Training School of Agriculture and Forestry (under the old system of education) and Kyoto Prefectural Girls' Vocational Training School.
February 11, 1949: Ministry of Education approved the establishment of the prefectural univeristy under the new system.
April 1949: Kyoto Prefectural Saikyo University (Faculty of Letters and Domestic Science and Faculty of Agriculture) was inaugurated under the new system.
Faculty of Letters and Domestic Science (Department of Literature, Department of Welfare and Child Studies, and the Department of Human Life and Science) was based on the Kyoto Prefectural Girls' Vocational Training School.
March 31, 1951: The Kyoto Prefectural Girls' Vocational Training School under the old education system was closed.
Campus
The school opened at a temporary campus which formerly had been used by the non-degree course for graduates of Kyoto Prefectural Kyoto First Higher Girls' School (its successor, Kyoto Prefectural Oki High School, uses the place today). There seemed to be no prospect for acquiring the site for the school's campus for financial reasons, and the Prefectural Assembly almost passed a resolution to close the school in the fall of 1931. However, donations from supporters of the school turned the situation around, and it survived. In April 1933, the school moved to a new campus built at the site donated by Shinkeihan Railway in Katsura Ichinomae-cho, Ukyo Ward. That campus was used until the school was closed.
Its successors, the Faculty of Letters and Domestic Science, Saikyo University, and Saikyo University Junior College, were initially launched at the Katsura Campus, but in April 1962 they were integrated into the campus of the Faculty of Agriculture (a place formerly used by the Kyoto Prefectural Vocational Training School of Agriculture and Forestry) in Shimogamo, Sakyo Ward. On the Katsura Campus site, Kyoto Prefectural Katsura Elementary School East Extension Campus was established in September 1968. In the following year, 1969, it became independent under the name of Kyoto Prefectural Katsura East Elementary School and has been ever since.