Japan Press Weekly

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2008 December 17 - 22 [FINANCE]

High school students participate in sit-in demanding increase in education budget

About 600 high school students, parents, and school teachers and staff held a sit-in in front of the Finance Ministry on December 21, demanding an increase in the education budget so that students do not have to quit private high school for economic reasons.

The action was organized in response to the ministry’s budget request for FY 2009.

Komura Eiichi, chair of the National Federation of Private School Teachers and Staffs Union, reported that amid the rapid decline in household incomes due to the rampant dismissals of workers and bankruptcy of many businesses, the union requested that the government increase the special expenditure for tuition exemption in the FY 2008 second supplementary budget. He called for further efforts to prevent an increase in high school dropouts.