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Bloomberg

Japan’s ruling party faced backlash from opposition lawmakers and the public this week after reports surfaced that it is mulling a plan to forgive student debt for those who have a child.
A panel of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has dominated Japanese politics since World War II, said on Thursday that they might include the suggestion in a broader proposal aimed at reducing the financial burden from education.
The plan is being crafted by the LDP’s research commission for education rebuilding, Jiji Press reported.
For years, the world’s third-largest economy has struggled to address a declining fertility rate. The debt forgiveness proposal is one effort at reversing that trend.
You’ve got to be kidding me
Ichiro Ozawa, politician
Figures released earlier this week showed that Japan’s births for 2022 were lower than at any other point since records began in 1899.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has prioritised boosting birth rates, including pledging more spending on childcare and planning a new agency dedicated to children and families.
The LDP’s education commission, which makes recommendations to the government, has suggested a reduction in student loan payments or a full exemption for those who have a child. Officials may issue special education bonds to fund the policy, the commission said.
But on social media, opposition politicians and others said the proposal discriminated against those who do not, or cannot, have children.


“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ichiro Ozawa, a senior politician in the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, wrote on Twitter, labelling the policy insidious.
Another lawmaker from the Japanese Communist Party, Taku Yamazoe, called the plan “insane” and instead urged for a cut in tuition fees.
The head of the research commission, Masahiko Shibayama, defended the proposal.
In response to a critical comment on Twitter, he said there was a “misunderstanding” about the plan, which will apply to both genders. He said there had been no objections to the proposal so far.


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Japanese angered by government’s plan to cancel student debt for those who have babies

For years, the world’s third-largest economy has struggled to address a declining fertility rate. Photo: Shutterstock

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Japan’s population has been getting married later in life and having fewer children, primarily as a result of financial pressures, but one politician disagrees, claiming it’s due to a lack of “romantic ability”. Photo: Shutterstock/File

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Japan tells day nurseries to stop handing parents their children’s soiled nappies

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News

Asia

East Asia

Education commission has suggested a reduction in student loan payments or full exemption for those who have a child
World’s third-largest economy is struggling to deal with declining fertility rate; recent figures show births last year lowest since records began in 1899


World’s third-largest economy is struggling to deal with declining fertility rate.


Education