October 16, 2023 at 13:31 JST
Elementary school children on their way home in Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
A record high of nearly 300,000 students refused to go to their elementary and junior high schools on at least 30 days in fiscal 2022.
They were labeled as “non-attending,” a term referring to students who do not, or cannot, attend school due to psychological, emotional, physical or social factors and backgrounds. It excludes diseases or financial reasons.
That means about one student in a typical school class of 35 is non-attending.
Education ministry officials attributed the increase in school absences partly to the novel coronavirus pandemic, which changed school and household environments and disrupted the lives of many children.
The survey results show the pandemic has continued to have a negative impact on children.
The central and local governments, schools and experts should work together to help every single schoolchild in distress.
The growing number of absences, in itself, is not entirely a bad thing.
The increase is due partly to more parents and teachers allowing children to opt out of attending classes depending on the circumstances.
In addition, more places other than schools have become available where children can feel at ease, including educational support centers of local governments and alternative schools.
However, 38 percent, or more than 110,000, of the non-attending elementary and junior high school students are receiving no support from any institutional body, in or outside their schools.
And the number and percentage of such schoolchildren are rising from year to year.
Japan lacks enough facilities to handle the diversity of non-attending children.
Officials have also been unable to contact households of some of those children. And ties cannot be formed between teachers and some students due to a lack of institutional arrangements.
In response to the latest findings, the education ministry plans to work quickly with the Children and Families Agency to reduce the number of unsupported, non-attending students. One possible measure is to arrange for them to study at venues outside classrooms or online.
The central government should urgently take effective approaches and allocate the necessary budgets.
Apart from non-attendance, more than 130,000 elementary and junior high school children missed 30 or more days because of illness and “other reasons.”
Support should be provided exhaustively for those children as well.
The number of suicides among elementary, junior high and senior high school students remains stuck at a high level. There were 411 such suicides last fiscal year, second only to the record 415 in fiscal 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alarmingly, the number of suicides among elementary school pupils and junior high school students both rose for the third consecutive year.
Record numbers of bullying cases and acts of violence were recognized at elementary, junior high and senior high schools last fiscal year.
The fundamental countermeasure against both problems has involved early detection and settlement efforts by school officials.
In many cases, however, teachers cannot intervene appropriately by themselves, given that work-style reforms for educators have made little headway.
Excessive workloads could cause teachers to underestimate the gravity of the problem and fail to intervene in a timely manner.
More teachers are needed who are capable of appropriately assessing the circumstances. And more school counselors should be made available for children to turn to.
School social workers and other officials should provide links between parents, welfare departments of local governments, nonprofit organizations and other parties.
Together, they should think, from various angles, about the optimal form of support tailored to the needs of every single schoolchild in trouble.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 15
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