The Finance Ministry's recent proposal to cut annual salaries and numbers of teachers at public elementary and junior high schools is mistaken and misguided.
Teachers need more pay and the country needs more teachers. These cuts will not be helpful in reducing costs and promoting fiscal health, but they will have adverse effects on teachers and students and the overall quality of education in Japan.
The Finance Ministry's reasons made little sense. Even Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has called for salaries in general to rise as a way to end deflation. Cutting ¥100,000 on average from teacher's pay is hardly going to prime any economic pumps. However, those cuts directly and immediately affect the learning environment across the country.