A high school student in rural Akita, Japan, wanted to attend a private school to follow his dream of becoming a track athlete like someone he admired. But his family couldn’t afford it, even with new government programs that made private school tuition "free" for many.
The student, 15-year-old Kota Tanaka (not his real name), lives with his mother, younger brother, and grandparents. His mom is the only one working. Although the government offers financial aid, it doesn’t cover other costs like facility fees, transportation, or living expenses if he had to move closer to the school. So, despite the tuition being covered, the family still couldn’t manage the total cost.
Instead, he enrolled in a local public high school and continued track there. He and his mom felt frustrated watching news about the “free tuition” policy because it mostly benefits students in big cities like Tokyo, where more private schools are concentrated. A large portion of the funding goes to these areas, while rural students like him are left out. His mom said, “The rich just keep getting richer.”
Another student from Nagano, 17-year-old Kurinosuke Mori, also criticized the policy. He attends a public school and supports better funding for public education, not just making private school free. He has seen overworked teachers, outdated facilities, and poor learning environments in public schools. He helped lead a petition calling for more support for public schools and gathered over 36,000 signatures.
The main concern from both students and parents: the government’s “free private school” plan could worsen inequality, helping urban and wealthier families more while leaving rural and lower-income students behind. Some also worry that if private schools become free, public schools might lose more students and decline further—already happening in places like Osaka.
These students and families are asking: if the government can afford to help private schools, why not fix the problems in public ones first?
https://mainichi.jp/articles/20250703/k00/00m/010/190000c
6 Comments
The last sentence was what I thought too. Making tuition free seems like it’s helping lower income families but in most cases, it’s only helping the rich.
Some wards in Tokyo is also providing “free” services for children but the fact is, most low income houses are being redeveloped to make new skyscrapers where tenants are mostly rich people who can afford to buy them.
That is, these social programs “seems” to be helping the low income when in fact, it’s mostly only helping the rich.
There is a need for investment in the countryside if Japan does not want to see more and more cities disappearing.
I’ve never been a fan of private schooling. All it does is separate people economically and normalize a government’s inadequacy to educate its taxpayers.
This reminds me of my home country Indonesia, and how the only “good” move I feel they’ve made recently is to move our capital away from Jakarta. A lot of things are already concentrated there, its basically our version of Tokyo, so they made the choice to move away to an area that’s closer to everywhere in Indonesia in order to reach out better.
Fighting fire with empty words
While the banks get fat
And the poor stay poor
And the rich get rich
And the cops get paid
To look away
As the one percent rules America
Spreading the disease – Queensyrcshe
These lyrics just keep coming back to me more and more
Welcome to reality