Economic recession drives students out of high schools

A survey shows that the number of public high school students who can't pay school fees or are supported by state-sponsored scholarships is on the rise as a consequence of increasing business failures and unemployment.

The Japan Senior High School Teachers Unions (Nikkokyo) conducted the survey at 82 public high schools in two major cities and 17 prefectures. It showed that in 2001, 722 out of 55,000 students surveyed stated that they are three months in arrears with tuitions. The number of students on scholarships was 729.

These difficulties arise from their parents' illness, joblessness, business failures, divorce, wage cuts, or inability to pay back heavy debts.

Also increasing is the number of students who quit school or can't participate in school trips for financial reasons. The number of students who couldn't afford school trips in 2001 was double that of the previous year.

A Nikkokyo secretary said, "The Koizumi Cabinet's structural reform is threatening people's jobs and incomes, as well as children's right to study. The state-sponsored scholarship program must not be abolished but improved." (end)