Japan Press Weekly

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2012 September 26 - October 2 [EDUCATION]

Japan’s poor educational environment among OECD

Recently-released OECD statistics have brought Japan’s poor educational policies into relief.

Public expenditure
Japan in 2009 ranked the lowest in its public spending on educational institutions among comparable 31 OECD countries. Japan took the disgraceful place for the third consecutive time since 2000. It spent 3.6% of the GDP on education, falling below the OECD average 5.4%.

Denmark came out on top at 7.5% followed by Iceland (7.3%) and Sweden (6.6%).

Due to the inadequate budget for educational services in Japan, a large portion of tuition fees for Japanese universities has been covered by household expenditure.

Higher education
The tuition for public universities is 4,602 dollars on average a year, the fourth highest after 6,312 dollars in the U.S., 5,193 dollars in South Korea, and 4,731 dollars in Britain.

Regarding the public scholarship program, 27% of U.S. students study on a grant-type scholarship which they do not have to repay, 38% of them use a combination of loan-type and grant-type scholarships, and 12% receive only a loan-type assistance, so that 65% are using some kinds of scholarship or assistance programs in the U.S. In Britain, grant-type aid is 8%, combination 50%, loan-type 37%.

In contrast, 67% of Japanese students cannot receive any financial support. As no grant-type scholarship program exists in Japan, the OECD data categorizes those who are exempted from paying tuition fees as grant-type scholarship beneficiaries, which accounts for only 1%. The data shows that 33% of students in Japan study on a loan-type “scholarship”. Though tuition fees are very high, Japan’s scholarship programs are so poor that many students are reluctant to enter university for financial reasons.

Class size
Compared to 21.2 pupils on the OECD average, 28 children on average are crammed in one classroom in elementary schools in Japan, and 32.9 students in junior high schools as of 2010, making the class size in Japan the second largest among OECD member states. A teacher has so many children in one class that he/she cannot sufficiently take care of them.

Working hours
Teachers in Japan work 200 hours longer a year than those in OECD countries on average.

By law, teaching staff in Japanese primary, junior high, and high schools work 1,876 hours a year while teachers in the OECD countries work for an average of 1,670 hours.

Compared to the average working hours in 21 EU counties (1,599 hours/y for primary, 1,598 hours for secondary, and 1,584 hours for high school teachers), Japanese teachers work an extra 280 hours.

Teacher salary
Teachers’ wages in almost all countries in the world have been on an increase over the last ten years. In Japan, however, their wages were reduced by 9% during the same period of time. Though teachers in France also underwent a decline in wages of 8% in primary and secondary schools, and 7% in high schools and in Switzerland, 2% in elementary and 4% in secondary schools (corresponding to high schools), Japanese teachers still experienced the worst drop in wages among comparable 25 OECD countries.

The annual salary for a newly hired Japanese primary or junior high school teacher is 25,454 dollars as of 2010, below the OECD average of 28,523 dollars for a new teacher in primary schools, 29,801 dollars in junior high schools, and 30,899 dollars in high schools.

The OECD points out that a beginning teacher in Japan can no longer earn decent wages, making it difficult to secure excellent graduates.