Japan Press Weekly

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2013 August 28 - September 3 [EDUCATION]

Gov’t tries to set income limit to free high school education system

Teachers and educational scholars are criticizing the government’s move to impose income limits on the tuition-free high school education program as fostering divisions among students.

The Liberal Democratic and Komei parties have agreed to submit to the upcoming extraordinary session of the Diet a bill to set income limits (9.1 million yen) to the tuition-free high school education system.

If the bill is enacted, 22% of high school students will not be able to receive the educational subsidy.

Pushed by longstanding efforts made by parents and teachers, the former Democratic Party-led government launched the free-education opportunity for high school students in April 2010. Currently, the government annually provides both public and private high school students a tuition subsidy amounting to 118,800 yen.

Expressing his opposition to the proposed change in the government’s policy, Chiba University Professor Emeritus Miwa Sadanobu said that the free educational program effectively fosters children’s awareness that the whole society supports their learning process. This helps motivate them to utilize their knowledge for the progress of the society, he added.

Miwa said that the government should rather improve the subsidy system to fully cover private high school students as well as university students.