Number of children waiting to enter child-care centers reaches record-high

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Number of children waiting to enter child-care centers reaches record-high

The Welfare Ministry on March 25 announced that as of October 1, 2009, the number of children on waiting lists to enter authorized child-care centers has reached a record-high of 46,058.

Meanwhile the number of day-care centers for children was 22,952, up 26 from the previous year. The number of children accepted by a child-care center beyond its fixed number rose to 24,421 from 20,108.

The reason why more and more child-care centers became overloaded and why the number of children on the waiting lists increased is because the government is reluctant to build a sufficient number of day-care centers for children while easing the regulation on the fixed number of children per child-care center.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Takahashi Chizuko made the following comment:

“The government must immediately draw up a plan to build a sufficient number of child-care centers as its top priority. The government, however, plans to abolish the limitation on the number of children per child-care center in order to require child-care centers to accept as many children as possible, regardless their capacity, under the pretext of reducing the number of children on waiting lists. This type of irresponsible deregulation policy is causing a rapid increase in children’s injuries in accidents, including a number of fatalities, at day-care centers. It is unacceptable that the government intends to eliminate the national minimum standards regarding the size of child-care centers.”

- Akahata, March 26, 2010