Education ministry considers allowing Asian school graduates to take entrance examination to universities

The ministry is considering giving graduates of foreign-owned Asian schools permission to take entrance examinations to Japanese national universities along with U.S. and European-owned school graduates.

Education minister Toyama Atsuko said this at a House of Representatives education committee meeting on March 14 in answer to a question asked by Japanese Communist Party member Ishii Ikuko.

On March 6, the ministry decided that graduates of foreign-run schools accredited by U.S. and European school evaluation institutions will be eligible to take entrance examinations to Japanese national universities. Korean and other foreign-owned schools were excluded because they do not have such institutions.

JCP Ishii demanded that foreign-run Asian school graduates also be allowed to take the entrance examinations.

On the same day in the Diet, 150 people participated in a rally to demand that the government end discrimination against students in all foreign-run schools. The rally was organized by a group of Japanese students and Korean students residing in Japan.

Representatives of the rally made representations to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Sciences, and Technology. About 300 people marched in the demonstration to the ministry. (end)