The Liberal Democratic Party is reportedly seeking to propose "home education assistance" legislation to the Diet. It might sound like a bill aimed at providing financial assistance to poorer families in the education of their children or beefing up support for households of children suffering from bullying at school. It's nothing of the sort. Instead, it's legislation that could provide a basis for government intervention in how parents raise their children. The ruling party should give up on this idea.
In concrete terms, the bill envisages the national government setting a basic guideline on assisting "home education," on the basis of which prefectures and municipalities would set their own policies. In accordance with the policies, local governments would carry out public awareness campaigns and provide parents with learning opportunities and relevant information, while school authorities and local residents would cooperate with the municipalities as they carry out the measures.
According to the planned bill, home education should be aimed at "having parents and other guardians make their children form habits that are necessary for their living as well as try to get the children to acquire an independent mind and achieve balanced development of their body and mind." The bill says that assisting home education has become an important issue because of changes in the circumstances surrounding families today, such as a decline in average family size, reduction in the time family members spend together and weakening connections between families and their local communities.