ABSTRACT
Japanese parents are so committed to the education of their children that they are prepared to pay for it. The term ‘education-mad mothers’ is frequently used to describe parents who are determined that their children should receive the best possible education. The national system is consequently more nearly a mass system than that of any comparable industrial country apart from the USA. In 1985, 63.7 per cent of 5-year-olds were enrolled in kindergartens. Virtually all compulsory school age children (99.9 per cent) were attending elementary and lower secondary schools. An average of 94.1 per cent of all pupils finishing compulsory schooling were going on to upper secondary schools in that year with a slightly higher percentage of girls than boys. Over the years, the percentage of the age cohort going on to higher education has risen phenomenally from 10.1 per cent (4.6 per cent female) in 1954 to 37.6 per cent (34.5 per cent female) in 1985. In 1983, more than fifteen and a half billion yens (representing 18.7 per cent of the national budget) were spend on education. Parents make a contribution to the costs of educating their children in publicly maintained schools. Annual fees per pupil run to Y49,000 (£216) in elementary schools, Y99,000 (£436) for lower secondary schools and Y218,000 (£960) for upper secondary schools. Compared with these modest sums, fees for private schools are higher. Local authorities and the ministry provide subsidies (which might be quite generous) for each pupil to private schools.
