TOKYO: Japan is proposing to offer free university tuition for families with three or more children, Japanese media reported on Dec 7.
The move is part of unprecedented measures to arrest its declining birth rate.
The programme is planned to start from fiscal year 2025, with no household income ceiling for qualification, media reports said.
The aim is to make it easier for families to have more babies and reduce the burden of their children’s educational expenses.
The government will incorporate the initiative into a package called the Children’s Future Strategy Policy.
It is expected to be decided at a Cabinet meeting by the end of December, The Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported.
The free tuition initiative is not exclusive to university students, however. It is set to cover those in junior and technical colleges, as well as other educational institutions, The Japan Times reported.
Japan currently has a programme that aids students from households with an annual income of less than 3.8 million yen (S$35,300). They are either exempted from tuition fees, pay a reduced amount, or are granted scholarships.
Before the latest announcement, the government had decided earlier in 2023 to expand this specific programme from fiscal year 2024. It would have covered households – with three or more children – earning an annual income of up to 6 million yen.
In June, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a package of wide-ranging measures to reverse the country’s dwindling birth rate.
He had said it is a problem that needs to be addressed given the country’s ageing population.
At that time, Kishida said he had decided to implement measures such as increasing support for higher education, The Asahi Shimbun reported. But the details of those plans had not been disclosed until now.
Japan’s birth rate has been steadily declining despite a series of government initiatives to buck the trend.
The number of newborns fell to 799,728 in 2022, down 5.1 per cent from 2021, Japan’s health ministry announced on Feb 28.
It was the lowest rate since record-keeping started in 1899. - The Straits Times/ANN
