The education ministry plans to assign outside experts capable of teaching Japanese to nonnative speakers to junior high night schools, as foreign nationals now account for 80 percent of the student body there.
The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry announced the plan Friday at a meeting of a panel of experts on the issue.
Junior high night schools cater to people aged 15 or older who have not completed compulsory education. The ministry aims to beef up Japanese language education at these schools in response to the expansion in acceptance of foreign workers in April.
In 2016, the law on securing educational opportunities was enacted as lawmaker-initiated legislation. The law is aimed at ensuring all children have access to compulsory education, with the main pillars being setting up junior high night schools and providing support to truant students.
The basic guidelines, compiled based on the law, call for all prefectures to have such night schools. Currently, there are 33 such schools in Tokyo and eight prefectures, including two that have been established since the law took effect.
According to a survey conducted by the ministry in fiscal 2017, junior high night schools had 1,687 students nationwide, of whom 1,356 (or 80.4 percent) were not Japanese nationals.
The revision of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law has created the Type-2 residence status for specific skills, which allows the holders of this status to bring their families to Japan. This means junior high night schools are expected to have more students of foreign nationalities in the future.
However, the current basic guidelines include school counselors and school social workers among roles that should be filled at these night schools, but do not include Japanese language instructors.
Some members of the expert panel have also pointed out that junior high night schools fail to provide generous support for Japanese language education as they have only a few people who can teach Japanese to foreign students.
By revising the basic guidelines, among other measures, the ministry will call for the night schools to find staff members from nonprofit organizations and other entities that teach Japanese to foreigners, as well as assistants who can speak the students' native tongues. The ministry will also encourage these schools to work with Japanese language classes in their communities, which are often provided by volunteers, as part of efforts to secure instructors.
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