Truancy – the action of staying away from school without good reason – went up again in Japan as confirmed by a government survey, according to a news article by Nippon.com. This problem has been going on for more than a decade now and it should spark discussions about what it would take to keep more students attend their classes with the future in mind.
To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from Nippon.com article. Some parts in boldface…
Ongoing Rise in Nonattendance – A survey on problematic behavior and nonattendance of schoolchildren by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology found that a record 353,970 students refused to attend school for 30 days or more during the 2024 school year. This was an increase of 7,488, or 2.2%, from the previous year and marked the twelfth consecutive annual rise. Compared to a decade earlier, nonattendance has risen 5.5-fold for elementary school students and 2.2-fold for junior high school students.
Looking at nonattendance by education level, there were 137,704 elementary school students (up 5.6% from the previous year) and 216,266 junior high school students (up 0.1%), which accounted for 3.9% of enrolled students.
The most common causes schools found for nonattendance were “lack of motivation,” at 30.1%, followed by “breakdown in routines” (25.0%), “anxiety or depression” (24.3%), “poor academic performance and regular failure to submit homework” (15.6%), and “friendship issues other than bullying” (13.2%).
The disruption to routines during the COVID-19 pandemic is thought to have lowered the barrier to nonattendance, while parents and guardians have also become more open to it as a necessary form of recuperation.
The Nippon.com article includes graphs for visual references. I encourage you to visit the article by clicking https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02594/
This development reminds me of a particular quote by the late Ray Walston as teacher Mr. Hand in the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The words were as follows:
What is this fascination with truancy? What is it that gets inside your heads? There are some teachers in this school who look the other way at truants. It’s a little game that you both play. They pretend they don’t see you. You pretend you don’t ditch! Now, who pays the price later? You!
Let me end this piece by asking you readers: What is your reaction to this development? Is truancy/absenteeism a huge problem in your local community or in your city right now? If you are a parent who plans to migrate to Japan soon, do you intend to have your child enrolled in schools there? Do you think the long-term trend of absenteeism in Japan will be reversed in the near future?
You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.
+++++
Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @HavenorFantasy as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco
Author Carlo Carrasco 