Japanese shun teaching as educators are underpaid and at risk of 'working to death'
Long hours, poor pay, challenging classroom conditions and mountains of paperwork are making life increasingly difficult for teachers across Japan and discouraging many from pursuing a career in education.
A report earlier this year in the Nihon Keizai newspaper indicated that close to 2,800 positions still needed to be filled in the nation's primary, junior high and senior high schools, an increase of around 30 per cent from a year ago.
In addition to the shortfall, a record 5,897 teachers took time off for mental health issues in 2021, including nearly 3,000 primary schoolteachers. Of the total, more than 1,100 decided to leave the profession entirely.
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A teacher at a Japanese high school earns an average of 400,000 yen (US$3,000) a month. While this is a reasonable salary, teachers are finding their income has not risen as much as inflation, which has pushed up the prices of food, fuel and other staples over the past 18 months.
Arguably the biggest problem is the long working hours. Teachers are required to be at school before classes commence at 8am and remain long after students have gone home. That is in addition to planning lessons, marking pupils' assignments and filling in paperwork from the ministry of education and their local education authority - much of which is superfluous, they say.
A study on work-life balance in the education sector, released by the ministry in January, found that teachers worked an average of 95 hours and 32 minutes overtime per month. According to Ministry of Health standards, employees are at risk of "karoshi," or death from overwork, if they do more than 80 hours of overtime a month.
The National Teachers' Federation of Japan found that more than 12 per cent of teachers have asked school administrators to lighten their work loads, preferably by hiring more teachers and reducing class sizes.
"However, due to shortages of funds being allocated to education, we have not been successful in bringing about this sort of change yet," said Keiko Uchida, an official with the teachers federation.
Japan also lags behind many other developed nations when it comes to funding education.
"Of the 38 countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, only Hungary spends less on education and research than Japan," said a teacher working in Hokkaido, who asked not to be named.
The hardest part for teachers comes after the school day ends, and they have to fill in needless reports and paperwork from the ministry of local education authority, he said.
"That means they typically work long into the evening and are also expected to oversee club activities, like sport, at weekends. And they do not get paid for those extra hours.
"My father was also a high school teacher and I remember that it was a miracle if he got a full day off on a weekend because he was involved in the baseball club. And he was not paid for that commitment."
Giving the rising cost of living and static pay, it is no surprise that some teachers are resorting to picking up different types of part-time work to help pay the bills.
A maths teacher was arrested in Nagoya in February after he approached a woman on the street - who happened to be an undercover police officer -and encouraged her to enter a host club.
The man, who has not been identified but is in his mid-20s, was arrested on suspicion of violating the Aichi Prefecture nuisance prevention ordinance, which outlaws aggressive touting.
The man has been working as a male host about three nights a week since August of last year, the Mainichi newspaper reported. He was released with indictment but the city board of education is considering disciplinary action.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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