The History of BFEN

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In 1990, 25 wheelchairs were present to the Republic of the Philippines by Ten-noji Junior High School Attached to Osaka Kyoiku University for the first time.

Ever since, by 1996, Tennoji Junior High School Attached to Osaka Kyoiku University had presented 200 wheelchairs in total to Thailand, People's Republic of Bangladesh and Republic of South Africa with support from Asahi Shimbun etc.

In 1996 and 1997, with Tennoji Junior High School Attached to Osaka Kyoiku University, 1 technical high school and 3 junior high schools began to present wheelchairs. 30 wheelchairs were presented to the Philippines, Bangladesh and the disaster area by Hanshin Earthquake. The 3 years on, by 1998, 193 wheelchairs were presented by them.

In 1999, 'Barrier-free education network' was inaugurated and was joined by more than 20 schools. In cooperation with NPOs and companies, 1,434 wheelchairs in total were presented to Thailand, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, South Korea and Republic of South Africa by 2002.

Furthermore, students visited Thailand in 'Study Tour' planned in 1999. Taking this Tour as an opportunity, exchanges with schools in the Philippines started. Their homepage (Web page) was built. On BBS (bulletin board system) of the homepage, exchanges have been boosted.

In 2000, the handicapped people given wheelchairs and teachers in Thailand were invited to Japan. In August of 2000, with the support of Osaka Lions club, students and teachers in Thailand and Laos were invited to Japan and had Workshop on exchanges. Next year Japanese students and teachers are going to visit Thailand.

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