Education ministry to expand social media counseling for students

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry plans to implement a nationwide counseling program using social media to address students' concerns from next year, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

The number of bullying incidents at elementary, junior high and high schools across the country reached a record high in fiscal 2018, and the ministry aims to prevent the worst from happening by making more counseling available via smartphones, which young people are accustomed to, and responding to such problems as soon as possible.

The state-supported social media counseling program began in earnest in 30 municipalities in fiscal 2018, with many of them setting up a point of contact using LINE. According to the ministry, the number of consultations was about 14,000 in fiscal 2018 and increased 1.5 times to about 21,000 in fiscal 2019.

The main consultations last year included 4,265 cases related to "relationships with friends," 1,618 cases about "academic and career development" and 1,274 cases of "bullying."

Because the consultations include serious, life-threatening issues and the percentage of elementary, junior high and high school students with smartphones is on the rise, the ministry has decided to expand the social media consultation service nationwide in fiscal 2021.

The ministry will subsidize one-third of the program's budget for each local government that implements it and take other measures. All 47 prefectures and 20 ordinance-designated cities will be covered by the program.

In Nagano Prefecture, about 120,000 junior high and high school students in the prefecture, including at private schools, are currently receiving online consultations. This year, as of the end of August, 390 phone consultations have been made, compared to 529 LINE consultations. A Nagano Prefecture official said, "For young people, social media is more accessible and anonymous, so it seems to be easier to use than telephone counseling."

The spread of smartphones among school students is significant, and they are more likely to use social media as a means of communication than phone calls.

In 2019, teenagers spent an average of 3.3 minutes talking on their mobile phones on weekdays, but 64.1 minutes using social media and other services, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry's Information and Communications White Paper. In July this year, the education ministry issued a notice allowing junior high school students to bring their phones to school, subject to conditions.

According to the ministry's fiscal 2018 survey, the number of elementary and junior high school students not attending school increased by 14% from the previous year to 164,528, and the number of cases of bullying at elementary, junior high and high schools was 543,933, both of which were the highest figures on record.

An official from the education ministry said: "Social media is deeply rooted in the lives of children. We want to expand the system that makes it easier for children to consult with counselors so that even the smallest issues do not cause serious problems."

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