In a landmark development, the government has dictated a drastic easing of admission requirements for night junior high school, paving the way for victims of childhood abuse and bullying to take the classes again, only this time actually benefitting from them.

The move will change the way municipalities operate the yakan chugaku night school system, which has traditionally catered to older people who couldn't graduate junior high school due to postwar poverty or non-Japanese who aren't fluent in the language.

The government long remained ambiguous about whether individuals who seldom attended school due to childhood abuse or bullying but were given a junior high school diploma only for the sake of following set rules would qualify to enroll in such institutions.