Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba plans to make private high schools accessible to all families with junior high school students, like these at a Plus Gym cram school in Tokyo on April 3. The policy comes with enrollment slipping to an all-time low. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)

Japan to subsidize private high schools as public system creaks

$4bn annual tuition aid starts from April in move aimed at cutting child-rearing costs

YUICHI SHIGA

May 16, 2025 06:00 JST

TOKYO -- Next April, Japanese teens will troop back to school to start an academic year like no other. For the first time, tuition will be free at all high schools, both private and public, regardless of household income, as Japan's minority government places a bet of nearly $4 billion a year on making child-rearing more affordable -- and boosting its own popularity.

The education system reform was adopted by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to win the backing of an opposition party for a revised budget plan earlier this year. It comes as the nation's high schools face the impact of Japan's declining population: The number of children in elementary and junior high schools hit an all-time low last May, according to government data, while high school rolls have fallen by 700,000, nearly 20%, over the past 20 years.