The number of elementary and junior high school students who failed to attend classes for 30 days and deemed "futoko" truant hit an all-time high in the last fiscal year, which ended in March 2022.

The number also increased by the largest margin on record.

The education ministry believes this data points to the corrosive mental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people.

To provide effective mental care tailored to children affected by the public health crisis, it is important to build a collaboration among a wide range of people and organizations, including not just schools, but also the welfare divisions of local governments, nonprofit organizations and local communities.

According to reports from schools, a total of 81,498 elementary school pupils failed to attend classes for 30 or more days during the year, up 29 percent from the previous year. The number for junior high school students grew by 23 percent to 163,442.

These figures translate into 13 truant elementary school pupils and 50 futoko junior high school students per 1,000.

The education ministry interviewed members of local education boards about the problem and found possible factors behind the increase.

The pandemic-related restrictions on school life, such as downsized or canceled school events and eating of school lunch with no talking, probably acted as a strong disincentive for many students to attend school.

It also seems likely that frequent school and class closures disrupted the rhythm of the daily lives of many students, while the perceptions about missing school among children, their parents and teachers have become less negative in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is important for adults to carefully monitor children for any signs of mental problems and provide appropriate care for struggling ones.

But about 89,000 of all the truant elementary and junior high school students, or 36 percent of the total, received no support from any organization, either from their schools, local education support centers or free schools.

One factor behind this problem, according to the ministry, is an increasing number of families that have complicated issues, which make it difficult to contact the parents.

Also worrisome is an upward trend in the number of violent acts committed by elementary school children. There were 7.7 reported cases of violence at elementary schools per 1,000 students during fiscal 2021. The figure for elementary schools surpassed that for junior high schools, which was 7.5 per 1,000, for the first time.

The education ministry traced this alarming trend to an increase in children under stress due to radical changes in school and family environments caused by the pandemic.

Another potential factor cited by the ministry is enhanced effort by schools to address school bullying, which probably led to discoveries of more cases of violence that might have otherwise gone unnoticed.

A total of 368 of students at elementary, junior and senior high schools committed suicide during the year. Although the number represents a decline of 47 from the previous year, it still indicates that the situation remains serious.

The responsibility for identifying the causes of these problems and taking steps to fix them rests primarily with schools.

It is, however, a tall order for the many schoolteachers in Japan who are exhausted from long working hours to build close relationships with students based on mutual trust through careful and attentive communications. 

It is essential to deploy more mental health experts such as counselors to schools while reducing the paperwork load on teachers and improving the learning environment for expanded use of information technology.

The central government and education boards should accelerate reform of the working conditions for teachers so that they can detect signs of problems earlier.

It is, however, a race against the clock to help children struggling with mental and other problems.

Such children are increasingly turning to NPOs helping truant students with their schoolwork online and “kodomo shokudo” (children’s restaurants), which are meal services operated by local community members, as a “third place to be,” after family and schools.

In addition to education boards and public child welfare facilities such as child consultation centers, these organizations and services should be regarded by schools as important and active partners in their efforts to tackle truancy and other problems related to the mental health of students.

We hope all these organizations will share relevant information for close monitoring of students through the eyes of many people concerned for signs of trouble so that they can provide the support best suited to meet the individual needs of children.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 28