Reform of Teacher’s Job Reaches a Deal

It is cruel for a teacher to work in a public school in Japan. They have to work late at night and weekends with relatively low wages. A lot of teachers suffer from mental illness. Some commit crime against the students. Entering in an era of mass retirements of veteran teachers, the government of Japan decided to improve deteriorated condition for the teachers to work comfortably.

According to the survey on situation of personnel management by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the teachers in public schools, including elementary, mid-, high and special supporting, who took a long recess due to mental illness marked a record high in FY 2023. Total amount of those teachers hit 7,119, increasing by 580 from the previous year. The ratio of those unworkable teachers was also the highest, which was 0.77 percent of all 920.415 teachers in Japan.

 

The biggest reason for being absent from the classroom was their involvement in dealing with personal problems of their students, marking 26.5 percent. “Relationship with other teachers” and “unmanageable amount of office work” followed it with 23.6 percent and 13.2 percent. Too long working hours, unexpectedly, was not the main reason to take a leave from the school, with 0.8 percent.

 

There is a tendency that female teachers who became unable to work increase faster than male. Growing burden for raising kids and taking care of old parents are supposed to be imposed on female teachers, which makes them unable to incompatible with their school jobs.

 

Mental stress on the teachers causes crime. The number of punishments on the teachers with their sexual crime, violence or harassment also marked the record high in 2023, increasing by 79 teachers to 320, exceeding 300 for the first time. Although the government introduced a new law in 2022 to block teachers who had committed sexual violence on the students coming back to the classroom, it showed that the law has not been working well.

 

The government started considering raising wage for overtime work of schoolteachers. Ministry of Finance (MOF) released a plan to gradually raise teachers’ monthly salary for the overtime by 10 percent of their basic salary in FY 2030. Although the rate is currently fixed at 4 percent, the MOF proposed to make it 2.5 times higher, with condition of reducing overtime work to improve environment of teacher’s working.

 

The MEXT was not satisfied with the proposal. To secure necessary number of teachers for public school, the MEXT required to raise it to the level of 13 percent by FY 2026. Both ministries agreed on raising it to 10 percent in FY 2030 without any condition. They also reached a deal that maximum size of one classroom in mid-school would be reduced from 40 students to 35. Necessary budget should be appropriated for the reform of teacher’s job.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amendment of Local Autonomy Law

The House of Representatives started discussion on revision of the Local Autonomy Law, which would vest the national government a power to instruct local government in an emergency. It may change the relationship between the national and local government, which has been recognized as equal. The opposition parties oppose the amendment, arguing that it would give the national government an excessive power.   With the Meiji Restoration, the national government abolished the feudal system, introducing modern governance. However, its autonomy was not sufficient. The governor of each prefecture was appointed by the national government. The local governments subordinated to the national government. It was as late as 2000 when  the Comprehensive Decentralization Law  was enacted and the relationship between the national and local government was defined as equal.   The national government found inconvenience in the relationship between the national and local government, when ...
Read more

Request for Final Nuclear Disposal Site

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry requested Genkai Town, Saga, to accept “literature survey” for building a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste. Genkai is going to answer within this month. If it accepts, it will be the third place to accept that survey, following two places in Hokkaido. Main reason to accept the survey is supposed to be subsidy from the national government.   Japan has no final disposal site. Among all 54 reactors in 17 nuclear power generation plant, 12 reactors of 6 plants are operating. The rest of them are not in operation, some of which are determined to be decommissioned. Used nuclear fuels are stocked in each plant, 　 or have sent to a reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori. There are two plans to stock nuclear wastes in the intermediate facility for disposal, one is already built and another is still in negotiation.   Nuclear Fuel Final Disposal Act in 2000 determines to bury nuclear waste in the underground. Literature survey, ...
Read more

Not A Royal Wedding

The bride called her husband an indispensable existence and their marriage was necessary choice to protect their mind. The groom insisted on his life as only once and his right to be with his loved one. Her father wanted his daughter’s marriage to be celebrated by the people. The people were not sure whether the family was happy as a whole. Is this the traditional Japanese social system that makes no one happy? Mako Komuro, as known as Princess Mako during her life in one of the royal family Akishino, held on Tuesday a press conference with her husband Kei Komuro, right after submitting marriage report to local government. It was something different from ordinary Q&A session, because Mako was afraid of her mental uneasiness brought by some questions not based on truth. So, the event was actually one-sided speech to the reporters. Mako emphasized that the Kei’s decision of studying abroad five years ago had not been his original idea, but a result of her request to establish an over...
Read more