Japan Press Weekly

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2021 October 6 - 12 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

JCP in talks with labor union promises to work to decrease municipally-owned universities’ tuition

Japanese Communist Party parliamentarians Hatano Kimie and Kira Yoshiko on October 6 held talks with labor union representatives who are organizing teachers and staff members at municipally-owned universities on issues regarding heavy tuition burdens and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the meeting, union head Nakazawa Shuichi pointed out that for many years, especially since the inauguration of the Abe government in 2012, the amount of state subsidies to municipalities, which is calculated based on the total expenditure by municipally-owned universities per student, has been reduced. He said that this cutback in subsidies has brought about negative impacts on these universities, such as increased difficulty in finding and hiring new teaching staff.

The union head also reported that many students are giving up continuing their club and circle activities due to economic distress caused by the pandemic and to restrictions on campus entry as part of COVID precautionary measures.

Nakazawa stressed the need to lower students’ tuition burdens through an increase in state subsidies to municipalities and dramatically improve the grant-type scholarship program.

In response, Hatano and Kira praised the role played by municipally-owned universities as community educational institutions, and promised to push the Internal Affairs Ministry, which administers the state program subsidizing municipalities, to take appropriate action on this matter.