Kyodo World Service, August 9th, 2007
The number of long-term school absentees in Japanese elementary
and junior high schools totaled 126,764 in the 2006 school year
through March 31, up 3.7 percent from the previous year for the first
year-on-year increase in five years, the education ministry said in a
preliminary report Thursday.
Long-term absentees are defined as those who are absent from
school for 30 days or more due to reasons other than illness or
economic difficulties.
Of the total, 102,940 were junior high school students,
accounting for one out of 35, or 2.9 percent, of overall junior high
school students, the report showed.
The number of absentee pupils at elementary schools came to
23,824, up about 1,000 or 4.4 percent from the previous year,
accounting for 0.3 percent of all the country's primary school
students, the report said.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology conducted the annual survey on all schools in Japan, from
kindergarten to university levels, as of May 1, to collect basic
education data.
In a multiple-answer question on reasons for skipping school,
bulling was cited by 4,688 students, or 3.2 percent of the total.
Bulling was added to a list of reasons for the first time in the
reporting year.
Personal issues such as delinquency accounted for the largest
proportion at 31.2 percent of the reasons, followed by 15.6 percent
for relationships with friends, other than bullying.
On the reasons why students continue refusing to attend school,
emotional difficulties accounted for the largest chunk at 31.7
percent, followed by 24.8 percent for apathy and 1.0 percent for
bullying.
By prefecture, Shimane was the worst with 16 out of every 1,000
elementary and junior high students absent from school, followed by
15 each for Wakayama and Kochi. Such figures were smallest for Ehime
and Miyazaki prefectures, at eight each, followed by Hokkaido and
Akita prefectures at nine.
A senior education ministry said an increasing number of parents
may believe they do not have to force their children to go to school
as they see various school problems, including bullying.
The ministry will continue to urge families to send the
absentees to school, the official said.
Meanwhile, the population of primary school students in Japan
declined for the 26th straight year in the 2006 school year to about
7,133,000, a decrease of 55,000 from the previous year. The number of
primary schools decreased for the 23rd straight year to 22,693, down
185.
But the number of junior high students increased by 13,000 to
about 3,615,000 for the first year-on-year gain in 21 years while
that of junior high schools decreased 27 to 10,955, the report showed.
Those newly enrolled at universities and junior colleges in the
spring totaled 698,000, or 90 percent of the 772,000 applicants.
The advancement rate among those who newly graduated from high
schools came to 51 percent, up 2 points from the previous year,
topping the 50 percent line for the first time.
