40% of Japanese Children Want the Government to Make High School, College Education Free

On April 1, the Japanese government established the Children and Families Agency to deal in an integrated way with declining birth rates, child abuse, bullying and other pressing issues concerning children that had previously been handled by different government agencies.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged to double the budget necessary to tackle such measures, although he didn’t go into detail.

Under a Basic Act on the Child that came into force the same day, the government plans to lay down an outline this autumn that will set the basic policies for addressing these issues for years to come.

With the aim of reflecting as many children’s views as possible in that outline, The Nippon Foundation conducted an online survey from March 6 to 12 covering 10,000 children and youths aged between 10 and 18 across the nation.

Asked what they would like the government and society to prioritize in dealing with children, two in five respondents (40.3%) said making high school and university education free.

They were followed by those who wanted priority to be given to creating a society without bullying (36.7%), being able to live safely without being affected by crime (33.7%), listening carefully to the voices of children in serious need of help (30.6%) and treating all children equally (28.8%).

When asked if they were aware of the new legislation, less than one in 10 (8.8%) responded in the affirmative, while more than three-fifths (61.5%) said they had never heard of it. Awareness of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was similarly low, with only 9.8% saying they knew about it and 59.3% saying they had never heard of it.

The UNHRC, which Japan ratified in 1994, is a legally-binding international treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of every child, regardless of race, religion or ability.

When asked if they had ever felt discriminated against or treated unfairly, 6.9% said “yes” because of their appearance, followed by their school grades (5.3%), their language and way of speaking (2.2%), their family’s financial situation (1.8%), their developmental disability (1.7%), and being from a single parent family (1.2%).

Queried whether there were any children’s rights that were not being respected in Japan, the following four rights were cited by more than 10% of respondents in each case: the right to express oneself freely and be respected by adults (11.9%), the right not to be discriminated against for any reason (11.3%), the right to receive an education (10.8%), and the right for the best interests of the child to be prioritized by adults (10.2%).

Asked to identify what social system they would like to see to uphold children’s rights, one in three (29.5%) cited more education about children’s rights at school, followed by the availability of adults to support children in need of help (27.7%) and the availability of people who children can talk to via telephone, social networks or email when they are in trouble (26.5%).

Respondents were also asked to write freely about what they would like to see addressed in the basic policy outline and what they would like the officials of the new agency to do. Free education topped the list at 15.9%, followed by a revision of the school curriculum and rules (13.5%) and respect for children’s opinions (10.3%). The survey also found that the children themselves felt the burden of the cost of education, with one respondent saying, “I want to study, but I’m reluctant to ask my parents to pay even more than they already have,” and another stating, “My parents often tell me that the cost of education is too high.”

After studying the findings of the survey, I feel strongly that the government must redouble its efforts to educate Japanese children about the new legislation and the U.N. Convention on Rights of the Child, and convince them of their right to have their opinions respected.

I sincerely hope that the officials of the new agency will listen very carefully to what children want, as shown by this survey and other forums, before they draft the basic policy outline.