8,432 Foreign Children Not Attending School in Japan
According to the latest survey published by Japan’s Ministry of Education, 8,432 foreign children of primary and lower secondary school age are not attending school or receiving any form of education. The ministry conducted the study using data collected from the education boards of 1,741 municipalities across the country. In the first survey conducted in 2019, it was estimated that around 20,000 foreign children in Japan were not attending school. However, thanks to efforts by local governments to closely monitor the educational situation of foreign children and to provide information to families about school attendance, this number has fallen to around 8,000 since 2022. Ministry officials stated that the decline is the result of local governments’ initiatives to ensure school attendance and raise awareness of children’s right to education. The proportion of municipalities with foreign students has risen to 74 per cent, while the share of municipalities with at least ten or more foreign students has increased to 42.3 per cent. Education experts have emphasised the importance of Japan’s recent efforts to strengthen the integration of foreign students into the education system. However, the fact that thousands of children are still not attending school highlights the ongoing need for more inclusive policies and support programmes.