An increasing number of private high school students are dropping out or not taking part in excursions arranged for them because of "economic" reasons, a teachers' association said Wednesday.
Many of these students are quitting because their parents have lost jobs as a result of company failures or restructuring, the National Federation of Private School Teachers' and Staff's Unions said.
The federation conducted a survey up to the end of September covering around 261,000 students at 257 high schools in 26 of the nation's 47 prefectures that belong to the federation.
The schools said a total of 164 students have quit school since April, which marks the start of the academic year, 40 percent more than in a similar survey conducted at the end of August 1999.
A total of 348 students, meanwhile, did not take part in school excursion programs planned up to September, already exceeding the whole of the last school year by 141.
There were 13.4 students on average at each school who have not paid tuition for at least three months, almost unchanged from 13.9 a year before.
"The recession is now hitting children, making it difficult for those who go to privately run schools to continue schooling," said Shingo Hirakata, chairman of the federation.