05 Ensure Diverse Forms of Education for Every Child

Liliana is a 14-year-old girl from Brazil. She came to Japan when she was seven years old and soon enrolled in an elementary school. Although Liliana knew little Japanese, she studied hard and became friends with many Japanese children. Until the time she enrolled in junior high school, her Japanese improved so much that she had almost no problem in daily communications. Yet her performance at school did not improve. Sometimes she found herself unable to understand some things in her classes, but she did not understand what it was that she did not understand, and could not figure out exactly what was the problem. Meanwhile, it became harder and harder for her to understand her classes, and soon, she played less and less with her Japanese friends.

When she was in the final grade of junior high school, Liliana learnt for the first time, that in order to enter high school, she would have to pass an entrance exam after graduating from junior high school. She had no acquaintances in Japanese public high schools. Thinking about her little brother who was still young, and parents bearing debts, Liliana could not keep her long-time dream of becoming a hairdresser alive. Losing her vision for the future, Liliana decided to withdraw from junior high school without consulting anyone. When I met her after a few months, Liliana was working as a dispatch worker.

▶ Children without access to education

The Japanese public education system still does not apply compulsory education to children of foreign nationalities. Although compulsory education obligates parents to enroll their children in school, from a child’s perspective, it entails one’s right to education. Children of foreign nationalities such as Liliana are allowed to enroll in schools, but when they are unable to keep going to school for various reasons, instead of being considered as absentees, they are considered as drop-outs and are removed from the school’s student register. Once a student drops out, it is extremely difficult to re-enroll in public elementary and junior high schools. Therefore, it is crucial to support these children of foreign nationalities and their parents.

Nighttime junior high schools, which are public junior high schools that offer classes at nighttime, are public education programs for those over 15 years old who – for various reasons – were unable to attend elementary and/or junior high school. The Japanese government encourages the establishment of at least one nighttime junior high school in each prefecture. However, as of March 2019, there are only 31 nighttime schools in eight of the 47 prefectures – an inadequate number to provide access to all.

Also, there are many disparities in the public school enrollment systems across municipalities with regard to the measures and categories available to children of foreign nationalities. Measures refer to the special measures that may be taken when children with difficulties in Japanese language need to take admissions exams – for example, longer test times or adding furigana (assistive hiragana readings/ pronunciations) beside kanji characters (Chinese characters). Categories refer to the special categories of students that may be allowed to enroll in certain schools without taking ordinary exams. For example, some high schools only require essays and interviews for enrollment. The problem is that such measures and categories are applied in different municipalities in different ways such as, “the availability of measures for only full-time schools” in municipality XYZ, “the existence of certain enrollment categories for only part-time schools” in municipality XYZ, and “no measures nor categories available for both full-time and part-time schools” in municipality XYZ. These differences are very confusing for children of foreign nationalities. Another problem is that eligibility for admission also differs from one municipality to another. For example, there are many children who go to schools for foreigners, but some municipalities do not admit graduates of those schools as they are considered ineligible to take the admissions exam.

▶ Protect children’s right to education regardless of nationality!

According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, all children should enjoy equal rights to education regardless of their nationalities or residence statuses. The present situation in which migrant children are out of school and working at a very young age like Liliana, is caused by the legal interpretation that compulsory education does not apply to foreign nationals. There is an urgent need to correct this interpretation by the state, and set up a system that ensures every child’s right to education. However, this does not mean that all children should be put into Japanese public schools. There are already many other important forms of education including schools for foreign children and “alternative” schools.

It is also necessary to address the disparities across municipalities that shape access to education on the basis of high school enrollment criteria, and not one’s effort. The establishment of a system that ensures diverse forms of education for all children is urgently needed (see Figures 7 and 8).