多様な教育の機会の重要性

学齢を超過した義務教育未修了の外国人青年が置かれた実態を事例に

抄録

There are now more than 2.7 million foreign residents living in Japan. As the law was revised in April 2019 to increase the number of foreign workers accepted to Japan, this number is expected to continue to increase. However, the government does not yet require compulsory school attendance for foreigners. Thus, some foreign children living in Japan do not attend school. Furthermore, the government has made no effort to determine the true extent of this issue. Foreign youths who did not attend school when they were school aged will not have completed compulsory education. The government has also made no efforts to track this information. Many foreign youths who have not completed compulsory education and are too old to attend school are unable to enter further education, as they are unqualified to enter high school. They are therefore forced to establish their own lives within society and face an uncertain future. In particular, the Tokai region houses many foreign residents. However, there are no public evening schools. The only places where foreign youths can belong and learn are school classrooms run by non-profit organizations.In this paper, I will discuss how differences in institutions between municipalities greatly affect foreign students entering high school. In order to ensure opportunities for the education of foreign students who have not completed compulsory education but are beyond the typical school age, in addition to increasing the amount of public night-time junior high school options, it is of the utmost importance to eliminate disparities between municipalities in the systems and institutions involved with entering high school.