Tuition Elimination Program Fuels Fears for Public High Schools

Tokyo, Jan. 7 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s program to effectively eliminate high school tuition from fiscal 2026 is heightening concerns among public high schools that a shift toward private education will increase further. Under the government’s draft budget for the fiscal year starting in April, subsidies of up to 457,200 yen will be provided per student at full-time private high schools a year. With the cost gap between public and private high schools set to narrow substantially, public school educators worry that the popularity of private school will intensify, possibly leading to a decrease in junior high school students selecting public high schools. They are also concerned that such a development, coupled with a decline in the population of children, could accelerate consolidations of public high schools. In line with the introduction of the free education program, the education ministry plans a major expansion of support to bolster the attraction of public high schools. It will ask prefectures to draw up plans aligned with a “grand design” for high school reform, which is set to be compiled within fiscal 2025, and will back those efforts through a new subsidy program to be launched in fiscal 2027. Under the government’s fiscal 2025 supplementary budget, the ministry secured funds to offer financial support even before prefectural plans are drawn up. The ministry hopes that the new subsidies will be used to strengthen education programs at specialized public high schools, including agricultural and industrial schools. The approach envisions, for example, revising curricula with support from related industries and providing more advanced instruction to develop human resources who can play major roles in regional economies and industries. At the same time, an outline of the grand design includes the “optimization of school size and placement,” fueling concerns among local officials that the ministry may be aiming for school consolidation. Education minister Yohei Matsumoto tried to brush aside such fears in an interview last month, saying, “We don’t expect to set a direction for school consolidation in the grand design.” Many public high schools are already struggling with declines in applicants as the number of children is decreasing in the country. A further shift toward private schools could deepen the challenge. A senior official at one prefectural board of education said the tuition elimination program will “certainly lead moves for school consolidations to go up a notch.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]