Sendai is seeing a rise in cases of upper-grade elementary school children not being able to use after-school care facilities — places for children to go while their parents are working — because the establishments must adhere to a quota that prioritizes children in lower grades who are moving into the city.
Many of them are eventually accepted, as the number of children who end up using the programs tends to be lower than expected, but their parents say they should be allowed to use the facilities without having to wait and see first.
“Both my child and I had to spend days worrying,” said a company worker in her 40s from Sendai’s Taihaku Ward, recalling the past few months when her daughter had been waiting to get accepted to an after-school care facility.
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