(Dec. 14, 2016) The Act on Securing Opportunities for Education Equivalent to Ordinary Education During the Ages of Mandatory Education was passed by the Diet (Japan’s parliament) and promulgated on December 14, 2016. (Kanpo, Extra No. 276, at 13 (Dec. 14, 2016) (in Japanese).) Based on the Act, the government will support “free schools” that accept children who have dropped out from regular schools and who have been outside of the official school system. (Keiko Okuchi, Point of Views: Request the State to Support Free School, NHK (Feb. 18, 2015) (in Japanese).)
The number of elementary and middle school children who were absent from school for more than 30 days without having been injured or without having any other clearly justifiable reason for being absent amounted to 126,000, or 1.26% of all elementary and middle school students. (Long Term Absence from Elementary and Middle School, E-STAT (Oct. 27, 2016) (in Japanese).) Home schooling is not officially recognized in Japan. The School Education Act obligates parents to make their children who are between six and fifteen years of age attend school. (School Education Act, Act No. 26 of 1947, arts. 16 & 17, EGOV (in Japanese).)
According to a survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), among the causes of absence from school without clear, justifiable reasons, lethargy accounts for about 25.6% and anxiety and other emotional issues account for 28.1%. (Situations Suspected to Cause Absence, E-STAT (in Japanese).) Young students’ suicides have been documented to reach an apex on September 1, the first day of school after summer break. (Cabinet Office, Suicide Countermeasures Whitepaper, Ch. 1, §§ 2, 4 (2015), archived at National Diet Library website (in Japanese).) The Act accordingly recognizes “the necessity of absence from school” for some children; the lawmakers aimed to ease the pressure to attend school on children who have a hard time in going to school. (Act on Securing Opportunities for Education Equivalent to Ordinary Education, art. 13.)
The Act also obligates local governments to establish or support evening middle schools for those who missed middle school education or have had difficulty in attending middle school. (Id. art. 14.)