According to the education ministry’s report released Thursday, as of May last year, 8,601 foreign children of compulsory school age in Japan might not be attending school. This number represents an increase of 418 from the previous year. The data comes from a ministry survey that included 1,741 municipal education boards across the country.
The report also revealed that 57,718 foreign students in elementary, junior high, and high schools required special Japanese language instruction.
The number of registered foreign residents of compulsory school age rose by 13,772 to a total of 150,695. This includes 106,540 children of elementary school age and 44,155 children of junior high school age.
Among the foreign children, 970 were confirmed to be out of school. Additionally, 7,199 could not be reached, and 432 were not surveyed by the education boards.
Since the ministry began its surveys in 2019, the number of foreign children not in education has decreased from around 20,000. This decline is attributed to efforts by education boards to encourage enrollment.
The ministry attributes the recent increase in the number of out-of-school foreign children to the overall rise in the foreign child population in Japan.
Furthermore, the number of students needing special Japanese language instruction grew by 21.2% from the previous survey in 2021, reaching 57,718 as of May 2023. Among these students, 20.8% spoke Portuguese and 20.6% spoke Chinese.