Part 1 Present State of Youths in Japan
Chapter 3 Youth Education
Section 1 School Education Population (Number of Young People in School Education)
(Population by Category)
As of May 1, 2002, the number of young people attending educational establishments from kindergartens to universities ("school education population"), was 20,972,000 (10,868,000 males and 10,104,000 females), representing 16.5% of the total population. (Table 6)
Table 6 Number of Schools and Students
| Note: | 1. As for "Number of pupils/students," the number of high school students includes students in regular, honors (senko ka) and special courses; the number of secondary school students includes students in both first and second courses; the number of students in schools for blind, deaf or disabled children includes students in kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school and high school; the number of university students includes undergraduates, as well as regular students, auditors and research students of graduate schools, honors courses and special courses; the number of junior college students includes regular course students, as well as students and auditors of honors and special courses; and the number of technical college students also includes students of honors courses. 2. Not including the number of schools that only have correspondence courses and their students |
| Source: | "Basic Survey on Schools," Ministry of Education, Culture , Sports ,Science and Technology |
Several changes by category can be recognized from the data. First, the number of elementary school children had been increasing every year from 1969 to 1981, but since 1982, when the school entry of those who were born during the second baby boom has peaked, the number has been decreasing. The number of junior high school students had been increasing since 1975, except in 1979, but again turned to a decline in 1987. The number of high school students increased to a record high in 1989, followed by a continuous decline. The number of kindergarteners recorded the highest level ever in 1978, continuously declined since then except in 1988, and then took an upward turn in 2002. The number of university students has been increasing since 1983, reaching a peak in 2002. The number of junior college students had been increasing since 1981, except in 1985, and after reaching a record high in 1993, it turned again on a downward trend (Table 6). The number of technical college students had been increased from 1979 to 1996, and after a temporary drop, increased again in 1999 and recorded the highest level ever in 2002. The number of special training school students reached a record high in 1992, continuously decreased until 2000, and then took an upward turn in 2001. The number of miscellaneous school students has been decreasing since 1969.
Figure 6 Number of Students in Main Educational Establishments (by School Category)
| Note: | The number of high school students includes students in regular, honors and special courses; the number of university students includes undergraduates, and students, auditors and research students of graduate schools, honors courses and special courses; the number of junior college students includes regular students and students and auditors of honors and special courses. |
| Source: | "Basic Survey on Schools," Ministry of Education, Culture , Sports ,Science and Technology |
According to the trends in the ratio of those who completed kindergarten to the first graders in elementary schools ("kindergarten attendance rate"), after yearly increases from 7.3% in 1948, it exceeded the 50% level in 1969, the 60% level in 1973, and then further increased, but after reaching a record high of 64.4% in the period from 1979 to 1981, the ratio has been decreasing every year since 1993.
As for the ratio of those who graduated from junior high schools and entered high schools or technical colleges (not including those who graduated in earlier years), after exceeding the 50% level in 1954, it has been increasing, exceeding the 80% level in 1970 and the 90% level in 1974. Since 1993, the figure has remained at around 96%, reaching 97.0% in 2002 (96.5% for males and 97.5% for females).
The rate of advancement to junior colleges and universities (the ratio obtained by dividing the number of enrollments to university departments and regular classes at junior college in the current year by the number of junior high school students who graduated three years earlier) was 48.6% in 2002. By gender, it was 48.8% for males (47.0% for university and 1.8% for junior college) and 48.5% for females (33.8% for university and 14.7% for junior college). The female advancement rate had exceeded that of males from 1989 to 1999, but fell below the male figure in 2000. (Figure 7)
Figure 7 Rate of Advancement to Universities and Junior Colleges
| Source: | "Basic Survey on Schools," Ministry of Education, Culture , Sports ,Science and Technology |
(Population by Management Body and Category)
The school education population in 2002 was 20,970,000, of which 790,000 were in national schools (3.8%), 14,120,000 in public schools (67.3%), and 6,060,000 in private schools (28.9%).
The ratio of private school attendance by category showed that miscellaneous schools had the largest share, followed by special training schools, junior colleges, kindergartens, universities and high schools. (Table 7)
Table 7 Number of Pupils/Students by Management Body
| Notes: | 1. As for "Number of pupils/students," the number of high school students includes students in regular, honors (senko ka) and special sources; the number of secondary school students includes students in both first and second courses; the number of students in schools for blind, deaf or disabled children includes students in kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school and high school sections; the number of university students includes undergraduates, as well as regular students, auditors and research students of graduate schools, honors course and special courses; the number of junior college students includes regular course students, as well as students and auditors of honors and special courses; and the number of technical college students also include students of honors courses. 2. Figures have been rounded, so totals may not tally. |
| Source: | "Basic Survey on Schools," Ministry of Education, Culture , Sports ,Science and Technology |
Section 2 Improvement of School Education Conditions
(School Education Expenditures)
The total amount of education expenditures spent by national and local governments for school education and those by school founders such as school juridical organizations ("school education expenditures") in 2000 was 23.4327 trillion yen. The ratio of school education expenditures to the national income was 6.2%. (Figure 8)
Figure 8 Total Expenditures on School Education to National Income
| Source: | "Annual Report on National Economic Accounting 2002," Cabinet Office "Survey on Local Expenditures on Education," "Basic Survey on Schools," "Survey on Financial Status of Private Schools" (1998-2000 data are from "Financial Status of Private Schools Today" by the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan, and "Financial Statement," the Ministry of Education, Culture , Sports ,Science and Technology) |
By category, elementary schools had the highest share with 28.3%, followed by universities, junior colleges and technical colleges (23.6%), high schools (19.7%), junior high schools (17.0%), kindergartens (4.2%), schools for deaf, blind or disabled children (3.6%), and special training schools and miscellaneous schools (3.6%). The five-year trend of compositions indicates that the share of elementary schools has been decreasing.
By comparison between public and private schools in 2000, public schools had a higher share: 3 to 1 in high schools, 16 to 1 in junior high schools, and 103 to 1 in elementary schools. But private schools had a higher share of 1 to 3 in kindergartens and 1 to 16 in special training schools and miscellaneous schools.
The ratio of major expenditure items in 2000, namely "salaries for faculty members," "other consumption expenditures (other than faculty salaries)," and "capital expenditures and debt redemption costs," showed that in all school categories, "faculty salaries" had the highest share, with 56.2% in elementary schools, 55.4% in junior high schools, 57.7% in high schools, and 46.6% in universities, junior colleges and technical colleges.
Furthermore, in terms of school education expenditure per capita, the highest number was recorded by universities/junior colleges/technical colleges with 1.77 million yen, followed by high schools with 1.11 million yen, junior high schools with 0.98 million yen, elementary schools with 0.9 million yen, and kindergartens with 0.56 million yen.