Project helps islanders’ grandchildren study at local schools

January 1, 2018

Okinoshima, Shimane Pref.- An aging and depopulated island town in western Japan is promoting a project to encourage the grandchildren of elderly residents to relocate from outside the island to study at local high schools.

The town government of Okinoshima provides 5,000 yen in monthly subsidies to each student who has a grandparent on the island and attends either of two prefecture-operated high schools there.

The town, located on an island in the Okinoshima chain in Shimane Prefecture, has a population of about 14,500. Oki High School and Oki Fisheries High School together had 386 students as of Dec. 26.

Facing a declining and aging population, town officials hope that the project will motivate young people to relocate to the island and help nurture people who will play active roles in the local community in the future.

The project started in fiscal 2016 following a proposal presented to the mayor at a meeting with local junior high school students.

The subsidies are provided for students who attend the schools from grandparents' homes or student dormitories. Students who relocated to the island from outside before the start of the project are also eligible for the financial assistance. They need to transfer their residence data to the local registry.

In fiscal 2017, two students from outside the island are receiving subsidies under the program, one from Hiroshima Prefecture and the other from the Shimane island town of Ama.

Shuto Ishibashi, who attended junior high school in Hiroshima Prefecture, decided to study at Oki High School as his grandfather lives on the island.

"Friends and other local people have warmly watched over me," Ishibashi, 18, said.

After graduation in spring, he plans to join a vocational school in Hyogo Prefecture to qualify as a paramedic. His future goal is to work as a firefighter on the island.

The Okinoshima town government has publicized the student relocation project on its website, as well as at seminars in Tokyo and Osaka. Jiji Press