Japan to expand language support for foreign children
Japan’s government is preparing to strengthen beginner Japanese-language programs for newly arrived foreign children, as the number of students needing such support has nearly doubled in the past decade, Qazinform News Agency reports referring to Kyodo.
A June report by an education ministry panel urged the central government to take a leading role in standardizing education for foreign nationals.
Record-high 84,759 students required Japanese-language training as of May 2025.
Municipalities like Yokohama already run beginner “pre-class” programs to help children adapt to school life. Facilities such as Himawari in Yokohama also provide support for parents.
Digital tools, including AI-assisted teaching, are expected to be incorporated into new guidelines.
The program goals are to help children integrate smoothly into Japanese schools and society, and provide multilingual documents and information on residence status to support higher education and employment.
To support foreign students seeking higher education or jobs, the report called on the central government to publicize multilingual documents for students and parents provided by municipalities as well as information on residence status provided by the Justice Ministry.
As written before, Japan's Immigration Services Agency released a draft ministerial ordinance to introduce a five-year period of stay for holders of Type 2 specified skilled foreign worker status from early January next year after seeking public comments.