Japan Press Weekly

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2023 March 22 - 28 [POLITICS]

'Ishin' party drastically cuts Osaka's public services in health and education

"Nippon Ishin no Kai" party-dominant Osaka has been promoting cutbacks in welfare/educational services by reducing the number of public hospital beds even during the coronavirus pandemic and abolishing more than a dozen of public high schools.

Ahead of the central government, the Ishin-led Osaka government has reduced hospital bed numbers amid the COVID-19 pandemic by 642 since fiscal 2020, and it is planning to cut an additional 479 more beds in fiscal 2023.

Since before the pandemic, the Ishin-majority Osaka government has been closing or combining public hospitals. The number of public health nurses per 100,000 people is the second lowest in Japan. The number of deaths from COVID-19 has topped 84,000, the highest number in the country.

The Ishin party boasts that private high schools in Osaka are free of charge. However, in reality, entrance fees must be paid and only half of private high school students living in Osaka can benefit from the free tuition program because parents' income must be lower than an Osaka-set specified level.

Regarding public high schools, the Osaka government controlled by the Ishin party shut down 17 schools and will reduce the number of public high schools to 100 from the current 150. The Ishin party even calls for the privatization of Osaka's public high schools.

In Japan, 43 out of the 47 prefectures have introduced small-sized classes in public schools. Osaka is one of the four prefectures which do not address the issue of class sizes. Not only junior high school students but also elementary school pupils in Osaka are forced to compete with each other through Osaka's achievement tests.