There is no overlooking the situation in which education is being conducted that deviates from its original objectives.
It has been found that there are as many as 35 vocational schools nationwide whose students are all foreign nationals. At more than 70 such schools, non-Japanese students account for at least 90 percent of the total.
The Yomiuri Shimbun has investigated the present conditions of about 2,400 schools in 46 prefectures, excluding Tokyo, where such data has yet to be compiled. The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry intends to hurriedly grasp the realities of these schools.
Vocational schools are educational institutions where students acquire practical knowledge and skills. Excluding those solely for foreign nationals, vocational schools are defined by the School Education Law as institutions mainly intended for Japanese students. Obviously, such vocational schools exclusively attended by students from abroad deviate from the conditions assumed under the law.
Among foreign nationals attending vocational schools, there are a conspicuous number of students from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries. Most students are said to have paid about 1 million yen in commission to brokers in their home country, while also paying several hundreds of thousands of yen in annual tuition fees.
After arriving in Japan, they enter Japanese-language schools and work part-time for up to 28 hours per week, a condition approved for those with the status of residence as a student. Despite graduating from such language schools, they cannot go on to university due to their lack of language skills, and instead they attend vocational schools while continuing to work part-time. This is the general pattern for many.
Earnings in the form of tuition fees collected from foreign students are a great attraction for vocational schools, as they are finding it increasingly difficult to attract Japanese due to the low birthrate.
Draw motivated students
It is safe to say that some vocational schools are functioning as a vehicle for accepting students from abroad who stay here to work, as the needs of these students and schools coincide.
One such school, the Japan-China College of Culture and Arts in Osaka, accepted 1.4 times as many students from abroad as the prescribed number of slots available, but it had to expel more than 100 students when their residential status renewal was not approved by a local immigration bureau.
The Osaka school was found to have changed without permission the content of its lessons authorized by the Osaka prefectural government, and it was teaching elementary-level Japanese to students from abroad in classes intended for Japanese students. Some vocational schools are effectively serving as an extension of Japanese language schools. Are there no other similar cases?
Certain students from abroad are studying to acquire knowledge and skills, hoping to gain residential status necessary to work in this country. Needless to say, some increase in such motivated students from abroad is a welcome change.
The duty of vocational schools is to conduct highly specialized education in line with the authorized content. The role is not a small one for vocational schools in the country's endeavor to increase the number of foreign workers accepted.
Measures should be devised to make vocational schools function properly. What is indispensable in this regard is to raise the quality of Japanese language schools.
From the fact that some vocational schools arrange lesson schedules so students find it easy to work part-time, the Justice Ministry has tightened requirements for establishing vocational schools, thereby ensuring they keep their courses open throughout the year. It is also essential to consider how to check the content of lessons.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 28, 2018)
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