Some areas short of Japanese-language teachers for foreign youth

Some areas in Japan are struggling to secure enough public school staff to teach Japanese to children with foreign roots amid a recent surge in the number of such students in the country, a Kyodo News survey showed Wednesday. The city of Yokohama, Saitama Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture began the academic years of 2018 and 2019 without enough Japanese-language teachers, with a deficit of 28 in public elementary and junior high schools, according to the survey of local education boards. The three authorities were short by 21, five, and two teachers respectively. Almost all vacancies were able to be filled by the middle of these school years, but the Fukushima education board was unable to fill one spot during the whole of the 2018 academic year. With the number of children without adequate Japanese-language skills on the rise, the education ministry formulated a standard in 2017 that requires schools to have one licensed Japanese-language teacher per 18 students with such needs, aiming to achieve the target gradually over the next 10 years.