{"id":2061,"date":"2008-11-24T12:08:28","date_gmt":"2008-11-24T03:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=2061"},"modified":"2008-11-24T12:08:28","modified_gmt":"2008-11-24T03:08:28","slug":"asahi-np-op-ed-urges-j-to-make-education-compulsory-for-nj-children-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=2061","title":{"rendered":"Asahi NP Op-Ed urges J to make education compulsory for NJ children too"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Handbook<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"Foreign<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\"<\/a>\"JAPANESE<\/a>
\nHi Blog. Another column calling for the guaranteed education of NJ children. Good. Keep it up. \u00a0The more of these, the better. Previous one earlier this year here<\/a>. Debito in Sapporo<\/p>\n

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POINT OF VIEW\/ Takaaki Kato: Non-Japanese kids deserve an education, too<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN,\u00a02008\/11\/20<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.asahi.com\/english\/Herald-asahi\/TKY200811200044.html
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Among non-Japanese families residing in Japan, there are too many that do not enroll their children in public or other schools here. Whatever their reasons, this is a serious problem. These children of foreign nationality, some of whom were born in Japan, are being deprived of their right to an education.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As a Japanese-language teacher at an elementary school, I find this situation distressing. Not only do these kids lose out, but so do their families and the community in general.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Council for Cities of Non-Japanese Residents, which comprises representatives from municipal governments that have a high concentration of foreign residents, has made proposals to the national and prefectural governments on how best to educate the children of foreign nationality.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I believe the main reason many children of foreign nationality are not enrolled in school is because Japanese law does not oblige them to receive compulsory education.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology says that when such children apply for enrollment at public elementary and junior high schools, they are accepted free of charge and are thus guaranteed educational opportunities.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

However, that doesn’t prevent their parents or guardians from failing to enroll them, the first main problem.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Some non-Japanese parents or guardians prefer to send their children to international schools, such as those for Brazilians living in Japan. That is fine.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But others who don’t send their children to international schools also do not apply for their children to enter the Japanese school system. In some cases, they have pulled their kids out of school to baby-sit younger siblings.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This brings us to a second problem. Even when school officials try to persuade guardians to enroll their children, they fail because there is no law requiring enrollment. The School Education Law is not clear on whether children of foreign nationality fall within the definition of “mandatory school-age pupils and students.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Still, Article 26 of the Constitution states: “All people shall be obliged to ensure that all boys and girls under their protection receive ordinary education as provided for by law.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But since foreign residents are not Japanese citizens, they are not obliged to ensure their children go to school. That seems to be the general interpretation.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Does this mean children of foreign nationality in Japan have no right to an education?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

No, it does not.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Under the spirit of the Constitution, under internationally accepted universal human rights principles and under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both of which Japan has ratified, every human being, regardless of nationality, has the right to a basic education.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thus, a child’s right to an education means their parents or guardians are obliged to ensure they receive such schooling.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Therefore, foreign residents in Japan must be legally required to ensure the children under their care receive compulsory education.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

So it seems obvious that a new clause must be added to the Fundamental Law of Education, for example, to ensure such children receive the education that is rightfully theirs.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

If children of foreign nationality are legally obliged to receive compulsory education, local governments would have to check to ensure they have been enrolled in school.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The authorities would of course let guardians decide whether to enroll the children in international schools or Japanese public schools, but either way, they would have to ensure the children were actually attending school.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A revised system like this would also improve awareness among foreign residents about their children’s right to an education.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The government must tackle this problem seriously and implement measures to promote enrollment of foreign children in public or other schools.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Such steps might include providing subsidies to international schools, producing and distributing free Japanese-language learning textbooks and assigning Japanese-language teachers to teach Japanese as a second language to children of foreign nationality.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The future of these children is at stake. I strongly urge the government to make elementary and junior high school education compulsory for children of foreign nationality, too.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

The author teaches international students at Imawatarikita Elementary School in Kani, Gifu Prefecture. \u00a0(IHT\/Asahi: November 20,2008)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asahi: So it seems obvious that a new clause must be added to the Fundamental Law of Education, for example, to ensure such children receive the education that is rightfully theirs.<\/p>\n

If children of foreign nationality are legally obliged to receive compulsory education, local governments would have to check to ensure they have been enrolled in school.<\/p>\n

The authorities would of course let guardians decide whether to enroll the children in international schools or Japanese public schools, but either way, they would have to ensure the children were actually attending school.<\/p>\n

A revised system like this would also improve awareness among foreign residents about their children’s right to an education.<\/p>\n

The government must tackle this problem seriously and implement measures to promote enrollment of foreign children in public or other schools.<\/p>\n

Such steps might include providing subsidies to international schools, producing and distributing free Japanese-language learning textbooks and assigning Japanese-language teachers to teach Japanese as a second language to children of foreign nationality.<\/p>\n

The future of these children is at stake. I strongly urge the government to make elementary and junior high school education compulsory for children of foreign nationality, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,34,35,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-exclusionism","category-good-news","category-immigration-assimilation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}