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2013 January 16 - 22 [POLITICS]

Education Minister’s cozy ties with companies aiming to run schools

Education Minister Shimomura Hakubun has received about 13 million yen in total for the past seven years from private companies in the education industry, reported Akahata on January 21. The “honeymoon” between these companies and the minister is likely to attract public criticism.

A political funding report shows that the Liberal Democratic Party electoral branch headed by Shimomura received a total of 4.27 million yen from 44 firms and organizations in 2011. Of these donors, 15 are education-related companies running cram or prep schools, which donated 1.9 million yen to the branch. This trend has remained unchanged in recent years. The contributions from educational corporations and organizations amounted to 12.89 million yen between 2005 and 2011.

Among those contributors is the Seiki Community Group, whose representative Sasaki Yoshikazu was designated as a member of the government’s education rebuilding council that was recently set up by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

In principle, the School Education Law forbids joint-stock corporations to establish schools because of their profit-seeking character. Under the Koizumi government, however, as a promoter of the deregulation of an educational field, Shimomura played a key role in introducing “special zones” where joint-stock companies can set up schools.

In Diet discussions, Shimomura has repeatedly requested the administration to help private firms manage their schools. Meantime, in his article for a magazine concerning cram schools, the minister stressed, “Now is the time for corporations to establish their schools.”