March 16, 2014
Nagano Prefecture has become the first local government in Japan to introduce a grant-type scholarship program with the aim of supporting students who cannot go to university due to financial problems.
Applicants for the program should be a member of a family with residence in Nagano Prefecture exempted from residential tax payments and pursue college education within the prefecture after finishing high school in Nagano. Under the program, the prefecture will select approximately 30 candidates for grants based on academic results and provide them with a lump sum grant (up to 300,000 yen) equivalent to entrance fees. The operation of the program will start in the coming fiscal year beginning in April this year.
A prefectural teachers’ union and parents have long urged the prefecture to launch the program through various efforts such as a signature-collection campaigns.
Japanese Communist Party member of the prefectural assembly Morozumi Tomonari during the regular session of the assembly in September 2013 demanded the introduction of the scholarship system.
The JCP assemblyperson expressed his determination to work for the further improvement of the system.
Teachers’ union secretary general Ichikawa Noboru said, “The program could ease low-income children’s anxieties related to the household economy.”
Applicants for the program should be a member of a family with residence in Nagano Prefecture exempted from residential tax payments and pursue college education within the prefecture after finishing high school in Nagano. Under the program, the prefecture will select approximately 30 candidates for grants based on academic results and provide them with a lump sum grant (up to 300,000 yen) equivalent to entrance fees. The operation of the program will start in the coming fiscal year beginning in April this year.
A prefectural teachers’ union and parents have long urged the prefecture to launch the program through various efforts such as a signature-collection campaigns.
Japanese Communist Party member of the prefectural assembly Morozumi Tomonari during the regular session of the assembly in September 2013 demanded the introduction of the scholarship system.
The JCP assemblyperson expressed his determination to work for the further improvement of the system.
Teachers’ union secretary general Ichikawa Noboru said, “The program could ease low-income children’s anxieties related to the household economy.”
