Currently, Japan has the highest enrollment and completion rates in the world, with nearly 100% of students completing compulsory education and 98% continuing on to high school. The university enrollment rate is 53.7%, which is not particularly high among developed countries, but when combined with the vocational school enrollment rate of 23.6%, over 80% of students are receiving higher education1. Regardless of the content or skill level, these figures show that Japan is nurturing human resources with the ability to adapt flexibly to the labor market. In any case, the high secondary education completion rate is due to ^Japan 's well-developed education system. Meanwhile, in Latin American countries, it is said that around 30% of students still drop out of compulsory education or do not attend school, and it has been pointed out that the number is even higher in regional cities and rural areas where poverty is ^severe2 .

Thirty years have passed since the 1990 Immigration Control Act was revised and Japanese workers from South America began coming to Japan. The current population of Japanese people is said to be around 250,000, but at the time of the Lehman Shock in 2008, the number was recorded at 390,000 (310,000 Brazilians alone and about 60,000 Peruvians). Over the past decade, the number of international students and technical interns from Asian countries has increased dramatically, and there are currently around 3 million foreign residents in ^Japan.3 Some have brought their families over to Japan, while others have built homes in Japan. Currently, there are more than 120,000 foreign children of compulsory education age, of which about 20,000 are not attending school or their school attendance status cannot be confirmed, according to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "Survey on the School Attendance Status of Foreign Children (Flash Report, September 2019)" ⁴ .

20,000 foreign children not attending school, students who need Japanese language instruction

Researchers and local governments have conducted individual surveys of foreign children's school attendance, but this was the first attempt to conduct a nationwide survey involving all city and town boards of education. A survey conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in ²⁰⁰⁶⁵ targeted only some municipalities with large foreign populations (11 cities in 1 prefecture), including Ota City in Gunma Prefecture, Minokamo City in Gifu Prefecture, Kakegawa City and Fuji City in Shizuoka Prefecture, Toyota City and Okazaki City in Aichi Prefecture, and Yokkaichi City in Mie Prefecture, where Brazilians of Japanese descent live. This was before the Lehman Shock, and the number of Japanese people in South America was at its highest at 390,000, but many children had not attended school for one to two years. The reasons given for not attending school included "not having enough money to go to school" (15.6%), "not understanding Japanese" (12.6%), "going back to their home country soon" (10.4%), "lifestyle and customs are different from those in their home country" (8%), and "not understanding the content of the studies" (8%). Although more than 80% of respondents said they knew about the enrollment procedures for public schools, many did not understand the procedures themselves or even receive enrollment guidance provided by an interpreter.

According to a survey conducted by the NPO Youth Independence Support Center three years ago, the average high school enrollment rate for foreign children remains at 60% ⁶ . This figure is also indirectly reflected in the "Survey on the Acceptance Status of Children and Students Requiring Japanese Language Instruction" published last ^year7 . Nationwide, 40,000 foreign children and students are eligible for Japanese language support, an increase of 6,150 from two years ago. By native language, the largest number are those from Brazil who speak Portuguese, at 25.7%, with about 10,000 needing Japanese language support. The high school enrollment rate for these foreign students is 71.1%, and the dropout rate is 9.6%, 7.4 times higher than the general student population. The university enrollment rate has increased in recent years to 42.2%, but even if they do find employment, 40% are on non-regular contracts, which is 9.3 times higher than the ^average8 .

Since children who are not attending school do not have a language of their choice, their Japanese, Portuguese or Spanish skills are often very low. Even if they can converse in everyday conversation, they do not have the ability to learn, think or express themselves in the language. ⁹ Even if they return to their home country, they cannot easily return to regular school, and even if they do, they are often held back and drop out. In Latin America, compulsory education is both a national responsibility and a parental obligation, and failure to do so is punishable by fines or imprisonment at the national or state level. However, this is mainly for the prevention of child labor and poverty relief. In many countries, schools in poor areas provide snacks and meals free of charge, and additional subsidies are provided only to families who have fulfilled their schooling obligations. In Brazil and Peru, there is little support from schools, boards of education or civic groups like in Japan, and if parents cannot hire private tutors, they are left alone.

Even if they stay in Japan, they will have few opportunities to improve their basic skills and their career choices will be limited. Their goal of becoming the diverse, multicultural, or highly global talent that society expects and contributing to society will become a distant ^goal.10

However, local governments with large foreign residents are making various efforts. A few years ago, Hamamatsu City in Shizuoka Prefecture implemented the "Zero School Non-Attendance Project for Foreign Children." ¹¹ Now known as the "Hamamatsu Model," the city worked with not only the city and the International Association, but also the Brazilian Consulate General in Hamamatsu, local residents' associations (neighborhood associations) and the police to grasp the actual situation through interviews, home visits, and data collation by the Immigration Bureau, even on weekends. Through NPOs that provide learning support for foreign children, the city also worked hard to identify children who were completely non-attending school and had no plans to return to their home countries, and patiently interviewed parents with the help of interpreters, persuaded them, and provided them with information. This is one success story.

Teaching Japanese to foreign students

However, according to the "Survey on the School Attendance Status of Foreign Children" published by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology last year, 83.6% of local governments provide guidance on school enrollment when registering as a resident, and 71.6% link the basic resident register and school age register systems, but only 17.0% actually visit children to check on them and encourage them to attend school.12 It is difficult for all local governments to respond like ^the "Hamamatsu Model," but in order to reduce the number of children from Latin America who do not attend school, it is important to work with the Consulate General in Tokyo and to send clear and strong messages from various organizations and ethnic media. Although compulsory education cannot be imposed on foreign children under Japanese law, ¹³ a diverse workforce cannot be cultivated in a country that cannot fulfill this important obligation. There is a risk that non-school-attending children will only be able to take on low-skilled jobs even when they reach working age (15 years old), and that this will increase the number of people who are left with only feelings of inferiority and jealousy.

For the past 20 years, local governments have made various efforts and ingenuity to promote the "right and obligation to receive an education" for foreign residents, and we can only respect and appreciate these efforts. However, Japan's inability to impose constitutional obligations on foreign parents is clearly not only violating international treaties, but also going against the social integration policy for foreigners.

Article 205 of the Brazilian Constitution stipulates that "education is the right of everyone and the duty of the State and the family, and is promoted and supported by the cooperation of society, with the aims of achieving the complete development of the human being, preparing him for the exercise of civil rights and qualifying him to work." If Japan could apply this spirit a little more flexibly, it would undoubtedly make it easier to deal with the issue of foreign children not attending school nationwide.

Notes:

1. " Is it true that Japan's university enrollment rate is low? Here are some interesting numbers " (Univ Press, June 12, 2020)

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Future Vision and Basic Data for Higher Education

2. Economic disparities are also reflected in educational disparities, and the huge gap between the educational standards of private schools, which are popular among the wealthy, and public schools, which are popular among low-income earners, is a major issue. Even though the overall education budget has increased (some budgets are around 6% of GDP), the quality of teachers has not improved sufficiently, and the ability of students is significantly lower than average in the international student achievement survey (PISA).

Gabriel Sánchez Zinny, " Which education is better in Latin America? " ( BBC News , April 11, 2015)

3. " Statistics on Foreign Residents (Formerly Registered Foreign Residents) Statistical Tables " (Ministry of Justice)
As of December 2019, the number of foreign residents in Japan was 2,933,137, of which 2.4 million were from Asian countries and 270,000 were from South America. Of these, 211,677 were Brazilians and 48,669 were Peruvians. Not all of them are of Japanese descent, but it can be estimated that almost 90% are Japanese workers.

4. Gender Equality and Coexistence Social Learning and Safety Division, Bureau of Education Policy, " Implementation of a survey on the school attendance status of foreign children to further improve their education and survey results (flash report) " (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, September 27, 2019)

5. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, " Results of a survey on the actual situation of foreign children not attending school ," CLARINET website, 2006

6. Takanori Tanaka (NPO Youth Independence Support Center), " High school enrollment rate for foreign children remains at 60% - Supporters investigate entrance exam system in hopes of correcting disparities " ( Yahoo News , January 30, 2017)

Similar data exists for other municipalities, but the high school enrollment rate is said to be around 50%.
YSC Global School

7. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Bureau of Educational Policy, " Results of the 'Survey on the Acceptance Status of Students Who Need Japanese Language Instruction' (2018) "
The survey is conducted every two years. There are 40,485 children of foreign nationality, with Portuguese (25.7%), Chinese (23.7% (9,600 people), Filipino (19.5% (7,893 people), and Spanish (9.4% (3,786 people)) being the mother tongue.

8. " More than 50,000 foreigners need Japanese language instruction, the highest number ever " (Sankei Shimbun, September 27, 2019)
Although the rate of university enrollment is increasing, many students are admitted through recommendations, and it cannot be said that everyone is entering a highly competitive university that is highly regarded in society, which is reflected in the employment situation after graduation.

9. Toshio Shibasaki, " The Current State of the Double Limited Problem and Support for It " (Philantropy, December 2014)

10. Tonomura Kotoko, "On the issue of foreign children not attending school" (Dai-ichi Life Insurance Research and Development Laboratory Life Design Report, 2008)

Peace Policy Institute, " The problem of non-attendance of foreign children and the improvement of education " (IPP Policy Brief, Vol. 19, July 15, 2020)

11. Hamamatsu City Planning and Coordination Department, International Affairs Division, " About the Zero School Out-of-School Initiative for Foreign Children in Hamamatsu City ," (CLAIR Local Government Internationalization Forum, November 2014)

" Zero non-attendance at school: Hamamatsu City tackles issues surrounding foreign children " (Nihongo Journal, November 21, 2019)

According to the Hamamatsu Institute of International Communication (HICE) , as of the end of 2019, there were 25,825 foreigners residing in Hamamatsu city, including 9,619 Brazilians, 4,091 Filipinos, 2,585 Chinese, and 2,585 Peruvians.

12. " Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology investigates non-school-going children to strengthen support for foreign children " (The Nishinippon Shimbun, June 18, 2019)

13. Article 26 of the Japanese Constitution states, "1. All people shall have the right to receive an equal education according to their ability, as provided for by law. 2. All people shall have the obligation to have their second daughter under their custody receive a basic education, as provided for by law, free of charge." This is interpreted as meaning that "all people" does not include foreign residents in Japan. However, it can be said that not guaranteeing such basic human rights is a violation of international treaties, etc. (Source: Hoshino and Kobayashi, "Colloquial Constitution," Jiyukokuminsha, 2004).

Professor Urabe, a constitutional scholar, states, "The debate over whether foreigners can enjoy human rights (negative theory vs. positive theory) has become meaningless in today's world. The International Covenant on Human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996 stipulates that human rights should be guaranteed equally to all individuals, including foreigners. The idea that it is sufficient to guarantee the human rights of only one's own nationals is no longer accepted internationally. Furthermore, there are no precedents in Japan that deny the right of foreigners to enjoy human rights. The issue is what kind of human rights are guaranteed and to what extent." (Source: Urabe Noriho, Constitutional Studies Classroom, pp. 55-56, Nippon Hyoronsha, 2006)

reference:

Alberto Matsumoto, " The Challenges of Second-Generation Japanese Latinos in Japan ," Discover Nikkei, May 31, 2017. ( Español )

© 2020 Alberto Matsumoto