Japan schools face ‘major crisis’ if officials fail to cut teachers’ work hours, unions warn

Some 900,000 educators have signed petitions calling for the government to end their long hours of unpaid overtime, as mental health issues surge

According to a study, long hours are the most frequently cited reason for teachers handing in their resignations at primary, junior high and senior high schools

Reading Time:3 minutes

Japanese primary school pupils on a field trip in Osaka. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 6:00pm, 16 Mar 2024

Two of Japan’s largest teaching unions have submitted petitions to the government signed by nearly 900,000 people, calling for reductions in the long hours of unpaid overtime they are expected to do.

The Japan Teachers’ Union (Nikkyoso) on Wednesday sent a petition with 698,091 names to the Ministry of Education, a month after the All Japan Teachers’ Union (Zenkyo) filed a similar document with some 180,000 signatures calling for the government to establish a firm plan on how teachers’ hours can be cut.

The issue of working conditions within Japanese schools is presently being discussed in an expert panel set up in the ministry, with one proposal being a salary increase of 4 per cent if teachers agree not to request pay for overtime hours.

A primary school class in Shizuoka. Many Japanese teachers come under pressure to work outside classroom hours for free. Photo: Kyodo

Regulations state that teachers cannot be forced to work overtime, although they come under pressure to assist outside classroom hours, such as by taking sports practices at weekends and going on school trips, without being paid. Administrative tasks and the grading of student papers also takes place outside official hours, as do class preparations.

“Excessive hours of overtime for teachers must be eliminated,” Chihiro Okamoto, an official of Zenkyo, told This Week in Asia. “The biggest reason for the additional hours is because the ministry has cut the education budget year after year, so there’s an acute shortage of teachers, which is now becoming a serious social problem.

“Every school in every prefecture in Japan has a shortage and that just means the other teachers have to put in more hours,” she said. “When we talk with our colleagues from teachers’ unions abroad, they are absolutely shocked at the situation in Japan. They cannot believe we have to do so many extra hours and that we do them without pay.”

The average public school teacher earns around 3.7 million yen (US$24,822) a year, rising to 5 million yen (US$33,543) per annum after 10 years.