Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2015 November 25 - December 1 [POLITICS]

Japan occupies bottom rank for 6th consecutive year among OECD countries in public spending for education

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on November 24 published survey results showing that the percentage of Japan’s public education spending relative to its GDP ranked at the bottom among OECD countries in 2012 for the sixth consecutive year.

According to the survey, the amount of expenditures for educational institutions from the central and local governments in Japan stood at only 3.5% of its GDP, the lowest among the 32 countries in the survey. The average was 4.7% and the highest was 6.5% in Norway, followed by 5.9% in Iceland and Belgium.

Meanwhile, the total of government expenditures and household spending for education in Japan was at 11,671 dollars per student, exceeding the OECD average of 10,220 dollars. This indicates that families in Japan shoulder a greater share of the educational cost than families in other countries.

University students in Japan are suffering from heavy financial burdens due to high tuitions and a lack of grant-type public scholarship programs. Nevertheless, the Japanese government plans to further slash subsidies for universities which will lead to even higher tuitions. The Japanese Communist Party calls for lowering college tuitions and the creation of grant-type scholarship programs on the grounds that the government has a responsibility to provide an equal education opportunity for all.


Past related articles:
> Finance Ministry requires national universities to double their tuition [October 28, 2015]
> Debts of freshmen in private universities hit record high [April 4, 2015]
> JCP issues proposal calling for improvement in scholarship program [October 8, 2014]