Japanese only for schools too

Guess it's not just bath houses any more ...

Here's a nice editorial. It was published a couple of weeks ago and only now have I come across it.

Title: Fundamental flaw remains in education law

Author: Daisuke Onuki

Link: http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200702120089.html

Excerpts: The people shall all be given equal opportunities of receiving education according to their ability, and they shall not be subject to educational discrimination on account of race, creed, sex, social status, economic position, or family origin. Thus, the Fundamental Law of Education guarantees the equal opportunity of education to all people of Japan.

However, it is necessary to note that the word "people" is the translation of the word "kokumin," which literally means "nationals."

Currently, the most important law on education in Japan, as well as the very Constitution, does not guarantee the right to education for children with foreign nationalities.

Our eldest daughter, who has only Brazilian nationality, was once denied entrance to a public junior high school in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, when trying to transfer from a school in Brazil at the age 15 in the ninth grade.

...

Two years ago, when the population of Japan started to decrease, the number of foreign nationals registered here surpassed 2 million. More than half are so-called newcomers who stay in Japan for the purpose of work. The number of people from Brazil, the country of origin of my wife and daughters, now exceeds 300,000.

...

A survey six years ago estimated that 3,000 Brazilian children between 6 and 15 in Japan had never been enrolled in school. More recent estimates indicate that more than 10,000 Brazilian children never entered school or dropped out.

Somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of Brazilian children are currently out of primary education. These figures do not include the 25 percent of children who go to expensive Brazilian schools that are not officially recognized as "schools" by the Japanese government.

...

In recent years, many European countries have seen a rise in extreme rightist movements. Our country should not wait for that to happen before taking serious actions.

Guaranteeing foreign children's right to education in other education-related laws to be revised in the following years will be important steps to take. It has been 16 years since this problem started in Japan's Brazilian community.

Another year lost in the childhoods of tens of thousands of immigrant children will require an incredible amount of work in the future to undo the damage done to the children, society--and the hopes to build a healthy internationalist Japan.

Comment:

Don't worry, I'm sure Education Minister Bunmei Ibuki is hard at work on the problem ...