Japan diet enacts bill for free reschool Education

May 10, 2019

Tokyo--The Diet, Japan's parliament, enacted Friday a bill aimed at making preschool education free of charge, a key policy of the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The bill to revise the child care support law was adopted by a majority vote at a plenary session of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, with support mainly from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, as well as the opposition Democratic Party for the People.

The bill passed the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, on April 9.

Under the revised law, education and day-care service fees for children aged between 3 and 5 at certified nurseries and some kindergartens will become free of charge from Oct. 1 for all households regardless of their income levels.

The free preschool education program also covers zero- to two-year-olds from low-income families that are given residential tax exemption.

Preschool education and day-care services are set to become free of charge for a total of 3 million children. Meal fees will not be covered by the program.

With the introduction of the program, the Abe administration aims to reduce economic burdens on child-rearing households and realize a desired fertility rate of 1.8.

The costs for the program are estimated at 776.4 billion yen a year, including expenses to be covered by local governments. The program will be financed by utilizing additional revenues from the planned consumption tax increase to 10 pct in October from the current 8 pct. For the first six months, the central government will shoulder all of the costs.

Meanwhile, subsidies of up to 37,000 yen per month will be provided for children aged between 3 and 5 from households recognized as in need of day-care services, such as dual-earner households, to cover fees for uncertified facilities and baby-sitter costs.

Up to 42,000 yen will be provided to cover such fees and costs for two-year-old and younger infants.