Economy

Schools in Japan to Offer Jobs to Employees at Struggling Companies

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:01 JST, January 21, 2021

The government has set up a database to provide school-related job information to companies that have difficulty keeping workers on payrolls due to COVID-19. By reducing the workload of teachers and utilizing diverse human resources, the ministry also hopes to revitalize school education in the country. The government intends that those who have registered with the system will begin working at schools from the new fiscal year starting April.

The database, called “school employment share link,” was launched on the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry’s website earlier this month. The website carries information such as job types, qualification requirements and working hours. The schools and companies are encouraged to work out specific details with each other. Schools expected to post the information range from kindergartens to universities and include private institutions.

According to the ministry, companies in a wide range of industries, including tourism, manufacturing and sports clubs, have already started to register.

The workload of teachers at schools is increasing to make up for class delays caused by extensive school closures last year due to the novel coronavirus. One advantage of the new system is that schools can reduce the burden on teachers by using external human resources, and that companies having financial difficulties can secure jobs for their employees.

Many of the school jobs in which external human resources can be engaged do not require teaching certificates. The ministry plans to increase the number of outside personnel next fiscal year. For example, the ministry aims to secure 11,000 teaching assistants, who support class management and career education for students (up by 3,000 from the previous fiscal year) and 9,600 school support staff members, whose duties include disinfection work (up by 5,000 from the previous fiscal year).

The ministry has appropriated ¥9 billion in the budget bill for next fiscal year as a subsidy for personnel expenses for all external human resources, including the people hired through the database.