Japan Press Weekly

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2011 February 2 - 8 [WELFARE]

Use budget to achieve smaller class size, not for US forces: JCP

Japanese Communist Party representative Miyamoto Takeshi at the February 4 House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting urged the government to secure a budget for promoting smaller class sizes in public elementary schools by abolishing the so-called “sympathy budget” for the stationing of the U.S. forces in Japan.

The Education Ministry initially planned to limit class size to 35 for first and second grades in public elementary schools from April 2011. However, in drafting the FY2011 budget, the ministry decided to establish the smaller class size only in the first grade.

Last year, the government called on the public to comment on budget requests regarding 189 projects. Among these projects, the Education Ministry’s initial plan received the third largest number of favorable comments. Referring to this fact, Miyamoto said, “People have high expectations for the establishment of a smaller class size. Why did the ministry cut the budget for that project?”

Education Minister Takaki Yoshiaki admitted that a smaller class size is effective “to improve students’ academic ability and to prevent students from refusing to go to school.” However, he explained that the reason why the ministry decided to exclude the second grade from the plan is because the ministry could not secure a sufficient budget.

Miyamoto pointed out that thanks to the so-called “sympathy budget” for the U.S. forces in Japan, the maximum class size for the first, second, and third grades on elementary schools in U.S. bases in Japan is set at 18. He urged the government to implement the Education Ministry’s initial plan by stopping the wasteful use of tax money such as the budget to show “sympathy” to U.S. military and their dependents.