May 25, 2020

NGO Joint Statement
Calling for the Provision of the “Cash Handouts to Support Students”
to All the Students in NeedOn May 19, the Ministry of Education of Japan announced the establishment of the scheme of theEmergency Cash Handouts to Support Students for Their “Continuous Learning”, which aims to grantcash benefits to higher education students who face financial difficulties as a result of the COVID-19
pandemic so that they do not need to give up their education. We welcome the launching of thesupport for the “continuous learning” of students in need.
First of all, however, the number of eligible students under the scheme is some 430,000, which is verysmall and represents 10% or so of the students in higher education institutions and Japanese language
schools. According to the survey on the students’ living conditions in 2016/17, conducted by the Japan
Student Services Organization (JASSO), the proportion of the students who have problems ordifficulties in pursuing their education only on the basis of the payment by their families and who
receive no financial support from their families amounted to 36.0% in universities (full-time), 42.5%
in master’s courses and 53.1% in doctor’s courses. Although approximately half of students in higher
education take up part-time jobs to continue their education, many reports on the media show that
there has been a sharp reduction in opportunities for students to work part-time, including because ofofficial requests to refrain voluntarily from doing businesses in efforts to prevent the spread of COVID19. Although the eligibility criteria are linked with the reception of scholarships or the use of student
loans (the criteria (6)), it is unreasonable to subject the present scheme to such conditions because it
is aimed at supporting those who are facing difficulties because of COVID-19. The Ministry ofEducation should delete the criteria (6) and provide all students in need with the cash handouts.
Secondly, the scheme establishes additional criteria (7) only for students from overseas, requiring themto rank high in terms of academic performance. The purpose of the cash handouts is, however, to help
students stay in educational institutions so that they can be involved in “continuous learning” amidst
difficult living conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is obvious discrimination on the basisof nationality to establish such different criteria only for students from overseas, in spite of the factthat the difficulties they face have nothing to do with their academic performance.
Since the launch of the “300,000 International Student Plan” in 2008, the Government of Japan has
maintained the policy to accept students from overseas in a proactive manner. More than 340,000
persons stay in Japan with the “student” visa (as of the end of the year 2019), many of whom work part-time to keep studying in Japan. According to the survey on the living conditions of privately financed
international students in 2017/18, conducted by the JASSO, approximately half of their earnings comefrom part-time jobs, and 75.8% of privately financed international students work part-time. The
discriminatory criteria for the cash handouts, announced in this context, illustrate the opportunistic
nature of Japan’s policy on students from overseas, which is far from the philosophy of “internationalcontribution”.
According to the media coverage, the Ministry of Education states that “since the eligibility is to beexamined by each university or other higher education institution, those students who do not meetthe criteria may be eligible for the cash handouts”. If this is the case, there is no need to establish such
criteria. We demand that the criteria 1(7) only for students from overseas be deleted and that the same
criteria be applied to them on an equal basis with other students.
Thirdly, students who attend educational institutions other than “Article 1 schools” (schools definedin Article 1 of the School Education Act) or Japanese language schools are excluded from the scheme,
even though they may also face risks to “continuous learning” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Japan is one of the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Convention on theElimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, all of which require the government to ensure theright to learn for all children living in Japan on an equal footing, without discrimination on the basisof nationality, ethnic origin or other status.
In the autumn in 1998, a Graduate School of Kyoto University allowed a graduate from Korea
University (Tokyo), a school in the ‘miscellaneous' category, to take its entrance examination andadmitted the student who passed the exam. The Ministry of Education responded in August of thenext year (1999) by amending the Ordinance for the Enforcement of the School Education Act toexpand the qualifications for entering graduate schools. Consequently, graduates from Korea
University, which is not an Article 1 school but a school in the ‘miscellaneous' category, as well as
graduates from departments in Japan of foreign universities – Japan campus of Temple University(USA), Hakodate campus of Far Eastern Federal University (Russia), Japan campus of Tianjin
University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tokyo campus of Beijing Language and Culture
University and Tokyo campus of Shanghai University, all of which are not Article 1 schools – are now
qualified for entering graduate schools of universities in Japan.
In the light of the international human rights standards as well as the above-mentioned history,
students of these schools should also be included in the scheme to support “continuous learning” ofthose in need. Korea University and some of the departments in Japan of foreign universities havepostgraduate courses, which should also be included in the scheme.
On the basis of the above, we strongly demand that the Ministry of Education and the Government ofJapan withdraw the criteria (6) and (7) for receiving the cash handouts, with a view to including all
students in higher education institutions, including Korea University and departments in Japan offoreign universities, in the scheme to support their “continuous learning”.

signatories
Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ)
Japan Network towards Human Rights Legislation for Non-Japanese Nationals & Ethnic Minorities
Japan NGO Network for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ERD Net)NORIKOE Net
The International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR)

contact: Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ)
Tel: +8-3-3837-2316

smj@migrants.jp