Club Activity Reform: Take Flexible Approach Tailored To Community Circumstances

Editorial

14:59 JST, June 1, 2025

With the birth rate in rapid decline, it is becoming hard to maintain schools’ club activities. Reforms are needed that are tailored to the circumstances of each community and that ensure children continue to have places where they can enjoy sports and culture.

A panel of experts, drawn from the Japan Sports Agency and the Cultural Affairs Agency, has compiled a final report urging public junior high schools to entrust club activities to local private organizations and other entities.

Since fiscal 2023, the government has been working to gradually change extracurricular activities on non-school days to community-based club activities. As a result, 40% of sports clubs and 30% of cultural clubs have been transferred to community organizations and others.

The final report designates a six-year period beginning in fiscal 2026 as the “reform implementation period,” and during this time all extracurricular activities on non-school days will be transferred to communities, while efforts to transfer club activities on weekdays will also get up to full steam. The report also urges consideration of a similar transition for high school club activities in the future.

This may be a major reform that will transform club activities, which have long been considered part of school education, into community club activities.

With the number of children in Japan shrinking, schools in some areas lack enough players for team sports such as baseball and soccer. And as for teachers who are in charge of clubs and have to attend tournaments on weekends, their burden should quickly be made lighter.

The most suitable approach should be found for making club activities sustainable, taking community circumstances into consideration. The central and prefectural governments should not leave reform up to municipalities and schools, but rather should provide active support.

Securing people to provide coaching and guidance for club activities is one of the major issues. Physical punishment and sexual harassment must not be tolerated.

One idea would be to establish a “human resources bank” in each region to discover talented coaches and instructors who can be dispatched to communities. It will be important to collaborate with local companies and universities to get them to supply personnel.

The cost issue cannot be avoided. In the future, parents will likely have to bear the costs of their children participating in community club activities.

At meetings of the expert panel, many local governments called for financial support from the central government. Sufficient consideration is needed to ensure children are not forced to give up sports and cultural activities due to their family’s financial situation.

Meanwhile, taking measures to deal with accidents and other problems will also be essential.

Even after club activities are transferred to communities, schools and teachers should continue to support the activities as members of the community. However, to avoid ambiguity as to whether schools or communities are responsible, it will be important to clarify in advance who is in charge and who is managing the facility, among other factors.

Club activity reform will require the understanding of parents and communities. The central government should work to familiarize people with the underlying principles of the reform and related matters.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 1, 2025)