2016 Volume 57 Issue 2 Pages 43-56
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the development of the Educational Support Project for Poor Children and its significance within welfare and educational policy, by looking into records from administrative councils, Diet deliberations and press reports. In 2004, the Advisory Committee on the Ideal Method of Carrying Out Public Assistance pointed out that independence from programs targeting families with children can be achieved by supporting children’s continuation of education in high school. After 2004, however, the educational support of poor children was given a new objective of providing venues where children feel comfortable and safe, thereby promoting sound upbringing which contributes to the development of their various abilities. Also from about 2005, lively discussions regarding the problem of child poverty took place, and eventually led to enactment of the ‘Act to Promote Measures for Alleviation of Child Poverty’. Press reports also played an important part in disseminating the awareness of the problem within society. In recent years, the Educational Support Project, whose original objective was to promote self-sufficiency of poor families with children, has expanded its objective to include providing equal opportunity in education for all children.
