Better after-school care system sought in Japan for child-raising working mothers

May 29, 2016

Better after-school care system sought in Japan for child-raising working mothers

About 13 percent of 6.77 million Japanese school kids spend their time at after-school care facilities until their parents come to pick them up. The number of these facilities came to 21, 482 as of May 2013, roughly matching the number of elementary schools across Japan. The after-school care system has been improved over years under a national policy since the 1990s against a backdrop of women's increasing participation in the workforce, but the system is not a cure all for working mothers.
The after-school care houses, called "gakudo" in Japanese, are set up in the school compounds or at places near schools and run by local public organizations and designated private entities. Overcapacity has become pronounced at gakudo houses in urban areas in recent years. As a result, working mothers are having difficulty getting their children into gakudo facilities in major cities.
Meanwhile, depopulation in recent decades has forced a closure of not a small number of elementary schools in rural areas. Closed schools are integrated into nearest larger schools, causing school zones to become larger. School bus services are usually provided for the closed school areas, but otherwise, parents have to take their children to and from school by themselves.
Gakudo care facilities are operated under unified rules. They are open only until 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. This is a headache for an increasing number of mothers with part-time jobs. "I hurriedly finish my job and go to pick up my kid within gakudo hours, so it's difficult for working mothers like me to work overtime, if so asked,"said the mother of an eight-year-old boy.
Experts say challenges are also on the side of children, particularly on their emotions and psychologies. Spending at gakudo houses are not pleasant for all pupils. When they enter elementary schools, they see differences emerge in their style of spending the after-school hours. Some pupils can go straight home after school, but other pupils cannot do so, and sometimes, they cannot understand the situation. As a result, some parents hesitate to get their children into gakudo houses.
Some gakudo facilities are criticized as being poorly staffed or lacking a sufficient budget.
Gakudo houses are not free of charge. This is another problem which makes parents reluctant to use gakudo facilities for their kids.
The number of husbands and wives earning a living together has been ever increasing in Japan. Young families' lifestyle and their habits are changing in recent years. Amid the aging of society and a resulting decline in the working population, calls are loud for improving the working environment for women. But the situation remains tough for most working mothers.
In response to increasing and diversified needs for after-school child care, non-gakudo after-school services are being launched in some communities. One of them calls for using vacant classrooms as something like a "children's house" so that pupils can play and do their homework there after school, until 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. This is basically free of charge.
The number of babies born in Japan in 2015 is believed to have increased after four years of decline. Japan's birthrate appears to be picking up after hitting a low of 1.28 in 2005. This reflects the fact that Japanese people have come to revisit the family values.
At a time when Japanese, young and old, are aware of the need to support child-raising by all means, more community-based after-school care services are expected to emerge from now on.