The government is planning to help students at Brazilian schools in Japan who have been unable to attend classes because of financial difficulties, education ministry officials said Saturday.
Emergency steps also are being mapped out to help students at Peruvian schools in similar situations, they said.
The program, being drawn up by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, is likely to include opening study spaces at public facilities and sending assistant teachers and counselors to Japanese public elementary and middle schools that accept Brazilian and Peruvian students, the officials said.
Japan is attracting an increasing number of Brazilian and Peruvian immigrants, and there are already about 90 Brazilian and three Peruvian schools in the country teaching more than 10,000 students.
Most of the schools depend on tuition paid by the students. Only five are legally accredited as special schools, making them eligible for public subsidies.
Many of the immigrants are employed as temporary workers and many are losing their jobs as the economy tanks, preventing them from funding their children's education.
Municipalities in Gunma, Shizuoka, Aichi and Gifu prefectures are particularly alert to the situation.
Japanese schools, meanwhile, are largely unprepared to accept immigrants due to the language difficulties.
While providing direct subsidies to schools not accredited is difficult for the government, the ministry wants to extend help in some forms to ensure that educational opportunities are preserved for the affected students, the officials said.