Background,Process and Motivation of Three Major Education-Free Reforms in Japan
In recent years,Japan has gradually implemented free education reforms covering preschool education,high school education,and higher education.This article collected the proceedings of the Japanese National Diet to analyze the decision-making process to launch three major education-free reforms in Japan.It also analyzes the policy content,and motives of these reforms.The study found that the high-school-education-free reform covering quasi-compulsory education and exempting tuition fees,aims to ensuring equal educational opportunities for all students.The preschool-education-free reform guided by concepts of social security and educational equity,aims to alleviate the burden of child-rearing as a countermeasure against declining birth rates.On the other hand,the higher-education-free reform is merely a complement to the previous two,lacking the inclusiveness to benefit all in its institutional core.The issue of declining birth rates has prompted the need for free education implementation in Japan,and the ideological differences of the ruling party determined the order and measures of the three major free reforms.However,the redistribution of financial resources has limited the effectiveness of these reforms.To maximize the benefits of the free education policy,the focal points of policy debates lie in how to gradually enhance the coverage of free education and determine the targeted groups of the policy.
万方数据
维普
