The Japanese government plans to expand the range of foreign university students eligible for scholarships starting in April, in a bid to provide more learning opportunities to the children of the growing number of foreign workers, officials said.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has decided to include students who are staying with their parents on a “dependent'' visa, provided that they have completed their education in Japan from elementary, junior high, and high school, and have the intention of working and staying in Japan. They said I would go to that country after I graduated from university.
A photo taken on January 13, 2024 shows people heading to the Unified University Entrance Examination Center at the University of Tokyo. (Joint)
Scholarships offered by the Japan Student Services Organization are currently available only to Japanese nationals and foreign nationals with visas as special permanent residents, permanent residents, or long-term residents who plan to permanently reside in Japan.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology estimates that around 500 to 1,000 people will be newly eligible for grant-type or loan-type scholarships.
As the country's population continues to decline and they aim to secure a foreign workforce, members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have called on the government to expand academic support for foreign children.
Civil society groups such as the non-governmental organization Japan Immigrant Solidarity Network have also called for the expansion, saying children of foreign workers tend to face economic hardship.
Toru Takahashi, a managing member of the group, said he welcomed the government's plan to expand scholarships, but requiring students to complete 12 years of education in Japan would mean children could live in Japan. He said there was a strong possibility that the conditions would be too harsh because it meant that the government needed to do so. You can obtain qualifications in Japan before entering your first year.
Takahashi said, “We will keep an eye on whether the government moves to ease the restrictions.''
According to data from the Ministry of Labor, the number of foreign workers in Japan exceeded 2 million for the first time as of the end of October last year, reaching a record high of 2,048,675, an increase of 12.4% from the previous year.
With the increase in the number of foreign workers, the number of people who entered Japan on “dependent stay” visas reached 244,890 as of the end of June 2023, an increase of 7.5% from the previous year, according to data from the Immigration Services Agency. Shown.
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