The Upper House last month passed a law to promote ways to deal with the needs of children living in poverty. The law is significant for stating clearly that the central and local governments are obliged to carry out measures to alleviate the problem of child poverty in Japan. Its main aim is to support the education of children from poor families and to ensure equal opportunity in education.
Although the law is a step in a right direction, it has a serious flaw in that it fails to set a numerical goal to reduce the poverty rate for children. It requires the central government to adopt an outline of concrete measures that are expected to include financial support for the education of poor children and to help low-income parents find jobs. The central government must keep in mind that its commitment to pulling children out of poverty will be tested when it writes its policy outline.
Efforts to achieve the law's main aim are important because the gap between the rich and the poor is expanding in Japanese society, especially since the adoption of a neoliberal economic policy under the Liberal Democratic Party government in the 2000s. The percentage of children from poor families who join high schools or universities is lower than that of children from well-off families. This situation helps to perpetuate poverty.