There are many foreigners in Japan now. It is to say that a lot of foreign children are living in Japanese society. They have same necessity of learning with Japanese children. Some go to international school, but there are some problems when they go and study in the school.

First is the cost of the school. International school fees are almost more than two million yen in one year. This is because that Japanese government does not accept them as an authorized school and help their working expenditure. For this reason, the schools should run their business and pay much salary of teachers themselves. Therefore, they demand higher money than other normal schools in Japan. This would weigh upon household economy.

Second is their language. Many international schools make class in English. Most of the students speak English as their mother language. However, Japanese children or others who live in countries where mother language is not English are going same school today. They need to pass an English examination when they want to go international school, but it is very difficult to pass. Add to this, after they entered at school, there are many issues. They would not get used to their difference, for example, cannot communicate with others, understand what teachers say or confuse during a lot of cultural differences.

These two problems is a part of issues. I think that it is very sad occurrence. They are children same as us, but why there are those problems for their education. The government tried to make free of charge of the school but it could not do. I think if they make some rules for help the school, it would be useful for those schools. However, changing the low about compulsory education and accept the school as an authorized school as one way to help them is next to impossible. This is because that the government needs long term to do it. Conducting a campaign to collect signatures is also difficult because someone does not like this campaign and sometime the government does not accept these signatures.

On the other hand, we can help the children to get used differences directly. We would see foreigners in our society. We could talk with them about our culture, customs or any differences during each other then. We could play with them at park. Recently, there are some opportunities to listen their lifestyle so we could hear them. Many ways we can do for help their education.

What do you think about this situation and what can you do for children who go an international school. This is a big issue now, not just an affair of other people. Please think about it and make your answer for solve it.

Reference: http://www.inter-preschool.com/policy/intl-school.html

by Koichiro Otani