Educational opportunities

Japan to boost education support for non-native children

Noticias

Asia/ Japan/ 16.07.2019/ Source: asia.nikkei.com.

 

Japan will provide more support for educating children of foreign nationals from early childhood through high school, including by increasing Japanese-language classes, under a plan released Monday.

The education ministry’s proposals follow changes in April to immigration law that allow certain foreign workers to bring family with them to Japan. Schools had already been facing a rise in students learning Japanese as a second language, prompting criticism that efforts on this front were lagging.

Monday’s plan, which calls for working «to ensure that all children of foreign nationals have educational opportunities,» seeks to provide seamless support to learners from preschoolers to job-seeking international students.

It proposes multi-language guides to ensure parents have information on how to enroll students at kindergartens and elementary schools.

Public schools are to receive more teachers for Japanese as a second language as well as aides who speak the languages of foreign students. Some schools currently have no such staff. Regions with a shortage of human resources will use translation and distance-learning systems.

Public high schools will be asked to give special considerations for Japanese-language learners when taking admissions tests, such as making it easier to read kanji characters and allowing the children to bring dictionaries into the exam rooms.

The ministry proposes creating an evening middle school program in every prefecture and major city for those who could not receive compulsory education in their home countries.

The initiative also will help international students in higher education find jobs in Japan, proposing the certification of collaboration programs between universities and businesses.

The plan covers Japanese-language learners of all ages.A 14-language online curriculum for self-study will be developed for residents of areas that lack easy access to Japanese-language classes

Source of the notice: https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Japan-immigration/Japan-to-boost-education-support-for-non-native-children2

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Vídeo: Giving Indonesia’s children with disabilities a chance

Reseñas

Asia/Indonesia/14.08.18/Source: www.aljazeera.com.

This Indonesian man has made it his life’s mission to educate children with disabilities.

Tatang was seven years old when a surgery to improve his failing vision went wrong and robbed him of his sight altogether.

«When I came home from the hospital, my heart was broken; I was a wreck,» he says.

Eventually, with the support of friends and advice from other blind people, he picked himself back up. He learned Braille, a universally accepted system of writing used by and for visually impaired people, and went on to study anthropology at university.

When Tatang returned home in Indonesia’s Bandung after graduation, he realised there were no education facilities for children with disabilities in his community. With financial support from his brother, he set up a school in his own home, teaching children to read Braille.

Today, many years later, the school teaches dozens of children with different needs. Along with minors with vision impairment, children with hearing impairment are taught sign language with the help of volunteers, while youngsters with Down’s syndrome get the attention they need.

At times, Tatang struggles to keep the school operating.

«Following my brother’s death, things have been very difficult for me, because not only the school, but my personal life was subsidised by him,» he says.

Most of his students come from families below the poverty line, making it impossible for them to pay any kind of tuition fee towards the upkeep of the school.

Educational opportunities for children with disabilities in Indonesia remain limited. The Indonesian government says it is working towards improvement and passed a new disability rights law in 2016.

More recently, Tatang has been receiving some limited financial assistance from the local government, but he still relies heavily on donations from fellow Indonesians to stay afloat.

«I’ve never thought of giving up. No matter what, the students here are my responsibility, and I have to educate them, so they can have a bright future.»

Filmmaker: Hassan Ghani

Assistant Producer: Surya Fachrizal

Translation: Nurfitri Taher

Executive Producer: Andrew Phillips

Source of the notice: https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/giving-indonesia-children-disabilities-chance-180808123227203.html

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