The proportion of elementary and junior high school teachers hired on a temporary or part-time basis continued to rise in fiscal 2012, reaching 16 percent, an education ministry survey said Saturday.
Hiring teachers as part-timers or temps has become more common since fiscal 2006, when budgetary constraints prompted the government to stop forming multiyear plans for hiring public school teachers.
Concerned these teachers are getting less training than full-time teachers, the ministry plans to increase regular recruitment. However, it remains to be seen whether there is enough funding at a time when the Finance Ministry is insisting on reducing teachers' ranks in sync with the declining birthrate.
There were about 113,000 temporary and part-time teachers in public elementary and junior high schools in fiscal 2012, up from 112,000 in fiscal 2011 ended in March, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry said. In fiscal 2005 there were 84,000 such teachers, accounting for 12 percent of the total.
Temporary teachers include those filling in for those on maternity leave. There were 587,000 regular teachers, little changed from the 587,300 in fiscal 2011 but down from 596,900 in fiscal 2005.