Japan’s Education Ministry proposes ‘Disability Promotion Plan’

Written with extracts translated from Nikkei

April 29th 2019

On April 29th Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has put together a priority policy “Disability Promotion Plan” to be tackled from this fiscal year to support the activities of disabled people in each field such as school education, lifelong learning, cultural arts. The pillars are employment promotion at school sites, expansion of opportunities for art appreciation, and securing a place for learning after school graduation.

With regard to employment promotion, in order to create an environment in which faculty and staff with disabilities can work, we send out precedents such as consultation system and support staffing all over the country. If there is a restriction such as “self-commuting is possible” or “no assistance required” regarding the qualifications for the teacher employment examination, the local government will be instructed to improve.

In cultural arts, we support the production of subtitles and audio guides when watching movies. We will also dispatch artists to elementary and junior high schools and special needs schools. In addition, in order to promote the creation of learning places based on public halls and universities, it also included promoting positive collaboration between local governments, universities and companies.