Japan Press Weekly

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2012 February 22 - 28 [EDUCATION]

JCP Miyamoto demands that gov’t introduce grant-type scholarship programs

Japanese Communist Party representative Miyamoto Takeshi on February 21 at a Lower House Budget Committee meeting demanded that the government introduce a grant-type scholarship system which does not require repayment after graduation.

Miyamoto pointed out that the budget required for this system is 10.2 billion yen for high school students and 14.7 billion yen for university or college students. The total 24.9 billion yen is only one seventh of the so-called “sympathy” budget Japan pays for the stationing of U.S. forces and less than the 32 billion yen the government annually provides to political parties.

The government has recently decided to not withhold the provision on “the progressive introduction of free education” for secondary and post-secondary education as stipulated in the International Covenants on Human Rights. However, the government still maintains reluctance to increase the educational budget.

Miyamoto explained the harsh condition of student loans, saying that if one attends school on a loan-type scholarship of 100,000 yen a month for four years, this student will have to pay back 6.5 million yen, including interest, after graduation.

Britain had once abolished its grant-type scholarship programs, but reinstituted them because it came to the conclusion that forced repayment would not guarantee the right to access to education, according to Miyamoto.

He again demanded the immediate establishment of a grant-type scholarship system, saying, “Don’t lend money to students claiming it’s a scholarship and force them to shoulder the burden of repayments with interest!”