The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has decided to establish a ``Regional Teacher Request Quota (Regional Quota)'' to support universities aiming to secure local teachers, and has included 2024 billion yen in the national budget request for fiscal year 17.As the number of applicants continues to decline due to young people leaving teaching positions, the company intends to make the regional system a pillar of its efforts to combat teacher shortages, and is considering expanding nationwide in the future.
According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the regional quota system is a system in which universities with teaching courses recruit high school students who aspire to become teachers in specific prefectures or municipalities through recommendation entrance exams.The support period is scheduled to run for five years starting in 2024, and will support the costs of initiatives carried out in collaboration with local boards of education and the like, as well as the construction of courses and curricula that address local issues.
Examples of regional frameworks have been introduced at Oita University, Fukui University, Yokohama National University, and Chiba University.The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology wants to expand this to other regions, and requests a maximum of 25 million yen for 4,000 universities working independently, and a maximum of 10 million yen for 7,000 universities collaborating with multiple universities. They are seeking a total allocation of 17 billion yen.
Not only do teachers have to work hard, but they may also work on remote islands or in mountainous areas.As a result, the number of young applicants has been rapidly decreasing recently.The number of new graduates taking the elementary, junior high and high school teacher exams decreased from about 2013 nationwide in 4 to just under 8,000 in 2020, and the recruitment ratio for elementary schools and junior high schools in 4 was 2000 times and 12.5 times, respectively. The number has decreased by 17.9 times in elementary schools and 2020 times in junior high schools.As a result, teacher shortages are becoming more serious in many regions, and this has become especially evident in elementary and middle schools and special needs schools.
