A substantial increase in the number of overseas students in Japan’s school system has prompted the country’s government to announce a boost to its Japanese-language education support, according to local media.
The decision, made in June, comes after changes in April to allow workers on a specific skills No. 2 visa to bring their families to Japan, resulting in a rise in students whose second language is Japanese.
“Demand for Japanese-language education is increasing”
“We’ll implement measures to improve Japanese-language education even further,” said Masahiko Shibayama, education, culture, sports, science and technology minister.
“Demand for Japanese-language education is increasing.”
According to the Nikkei Asian Review, the proposed changes would include an increase to Japanese-language classes, the creation of an evening middle school program, a boost in the number of language teachers and aides, as well as multi-language documents to help parents enrol their children.
Special considerations for non-native Japanese speakers in exams would also allow some children to use dictionaries, and a proposed certificate of collaboration between universities and businesses could be developed to boost the number of international students find a job.
The number of foreign workers in Japan doubled over the past five years to 1.46 million in 2018, according to government figures, primarily within technical and skills-based industries.
China, Vietnam and the Philippines represent the largest sector of foreign workers, and the April changes, which have already caused some internal concern over housing affordability and potential crime, as expected to add an additional 340,000 workers over five years.
Japan’s government has been proactively recruiting more foreign workers as the country faces population decline, and last year relaxed its post-graduate employment rules for international students.
