[Teachers and children engage in a Japanese language class for kids of foreign nationalities in Kani, Gifu Prefecture, in February 2020. (Photo by=Kyodo)]

TOKYO: Around 7 percent of all foreign children in Japan of elementary to junior high school age, or 10,046 children, may not be attending school, government data showed Friday. But the number of such absentee school children as of May 2021 was down by almost half, or by 9,425, since the last survey by the education ministry, conducted in 2019, Kyodo reported.
 
Elementary and junior high school education are not compulsory for foreigners, unlike for their Japanese peers. But they can receive public education for free if they wish. The ministry says the improvement since 2019 is possibly attributable to its efforts to encourage school boards to help more foreign children attend school. The survey was carried out in 1,741 municipalities across Japan, covering 133,310 foreign children listed on resident registries. It found that 649 children did not attend school but could not confirm the school attendance status of 9,397 children.
 
The ministry says it will encourage local governments to enhance their awareness about the situation and to be proactive in reaching out to foreign families. To help foreign children, it has decided to introduce a system to recognize special Japanese instruction classes in high schools as a formal unit, starting from April 2023.