Japan Reviewing Meal Fees at Nurseries

November 12, 2018

Tokyo--Japan's Cabinet Office is reviewing meal fees at nurseries before the country starts a program for free preschool education and care services in October 2019, officials have said.

The review is aimed at eliminating unfairness that would result after the start of the program because of a gap between kindergartens that fully charge parents meal fees and nurseries whose service charges partially include meal fees.

According to the officials, the costs for main foods such as rice stand at 3,000 yen monthly per child and side dishes at 4,500 yen.

How user families pay the costs differs depending on municipal judgments based on children's ages and parents' employment status.

For example, families with a nonworking mother are certified as type one, or those who do not need a nursery service for their children. They are required to pay for both main foods and sides if their children attend kindergartens.

But type two families, or those who need nurseries for reasons such as that both parents are working, pay for main foods if their children aged three to five attend nurseries, while the costs for sides are included in nursery fees.

Under the program, nurseries that meet state standards, kindergartens and nursery-kindergarten hybrids will be basically free of service charges for three- to five-year-olds.

But the program will not cover meal fees. Unless the fee system changes, type one families will remain required to pay all fees, while type two families will pay only for main foods.

The Cabinet Office is considering charging fees for side dishes at nurseries to resolve the unfairness.

It is also discussing additional measures to reduce financial burdens of low-income families, including those on welfare that receive public financial aid to partially or entirely cover meal fees.

The office hopes to reach a conclusion on the fee review and new assistance to low-income families by year-end, officials said. Jiji Press