相次ぐ小中学校の閉鎖、学費や奨学基金は返還されず

According to the statistics of the Chinese Ministry of Education, the number of kindergartens in China in 2022 decreased from 5,610 places last year to 289,200 places. In 2023, it decreased to 274,400 places and further 14,800 places. In the past two years, 24,000 kindergartens across China have been closed. The beginning of September every year is the time when the new school year of kindergartens in China begins, but since September last year, news of the sudden closure of kindergartens has been circulating on the Internet for a long time. In September 6, 2023, a kindergarten in Kana Town was closed suddenly on the opening day. This kindergarten has a tuition fee of over 200,000 yen per person. The damage is more than 200 children, and the total amount is about 40 million yen. The director is suspected of fraud and illegal fund-raising, and we have reported that the fund-raising has collapsed against the guardians, but it has not been reimbursed. The guardians were outraged by the news of the closure and conducted protest activities. Many police officers were mobilized at the scene. On September 11, 2023, a kindergarten in Nanshao City, Kaohsiung Province announced the closure in just a few days after the opening. The two images posted by net users show that this kindergarten was closed on the 5th day after the opening. According to the staff of the local education and sports bureau, this kindergarten was closed because it was private and the fund-raising had collapsed and the operation could not be continued. What is particularly serious is that we are now unable to contact the person in charge of the kindergarten. In the WeChat group of the kindergarten guardians, this kindergarten has a low number of students and is unable to pay the operating cost of the first term, so there is information that it has fallen into bankruptcy and decided to close. The kindergarten side has shown an intention to protest against the return of the tuition. However, the guardians had paid about 80,000 yen in tuition, but the kindergarten side has said that there is no intention to return only about 20,000 yen. Since the beginning of this year, the kindergarten has not stopped closing. In July 2024, three more kindergartens were closed in the center of Kaohsiung Province. According to official data from China, 5.34 million children went to kindergarten in 2023, and more than 170,000 kindergarten teachers and nurses graduated. If the official data is this number, it is probably a more serious situation. So, why is this kindergarten's large-scale closure happening? One of the main reasons is that the birth rate in China is continuously declining. In recent years, the growth of the Chinese economy has stagnated, and the employment rate of young people has continued to decline, so many young people hesitate to get married or have children even if they get married. According to the data released by the central authorities in August this year, the number of marriages in the second half of the year in 2024 decreased by 12.7% compared to the previous year, and it is clear that the crisis of China's population is accelerating. In other words, the high cost of raising children is also a major factor in the decline in the birth rate. According to a report released by the Sinktank Institute in Beijing in February this year, the average cost of raising a child up to 18 years old in China is 6.3 times the GDP per person. Of the 13 countries compared, only 7.79 times more than China. On the other hand, Australia is 2.08 times, the United States is 4.11 times, and Japan is 4.26 times. From this, we can see that the cost of raising children in China is higher than in the United States and Japan. Therefore, many people hesitate to raise children because of economic reasons, even if the Chinese government approves the birth of the second or third child. In China, not only kindergartens, but also elementary schools and junior high schools are closed. On March 22, 2023, my school, Hokugai Elementary School, was suddenly closed. According to the guardian, this school has collected more than 2 million yen per person as an elementary fund from the guardians of about 300 students, and the total amount exceeded 200 million yen. The school said that it would return the full amount when the students graduated, but the school was suddenly closed and I couldn't get in touch with the person in charge. The guardian, Mr. Cho, said that the school has been paying the teachers since 2022, and the teachers have striked twice. Therefore, there are students who have already transferred. Mr. Cho said, bewildered, Most of the guardians who paid the elementary fund did not transfer. I paid so much money, so I couldn't give up, and I wanted my children to go to elementary school at least until they graduated. However, the school was suddenly closed and it was notified that the children would come to pick them up. The staff of the Education Bureau said that the local public security department had already intervened in this matter, and the school officials had been arrested. Hokugai Elementary School was closed. The school was closed. During class, the class was suddenly suspended. All the guardians packed their belongings and took the children home. In July 2024, many private schools in Kanto were also closed. Among them, the most noteworthy was Koutoku Elementary School, which was a relatively well-known private school. The Shinsenji Education Bureau rated Koutoku Elementary School as a private school for Shinsenji students in 2020. In 2021, Koutoku Elementary School's 4th-year university admission rate was 87.93%. The tuition for the Koutoku Elementary School's university entrance exam class was about 840,000 yen per semester, and the tuition for the art exam class was about 1,170,000 yen per semester. The school explained that if the guardians paid the tuition, they would receive a certain discount. Many guardians paid the tuition, but the school was suddenly closed. According to one student, the school should pay a total of about 200 million yen, including the tuition for students and other expenses. The teachers also have unpaid salaries. However, the head of the school is still unable to contact him, and some guardians suspect that the principal has run away with the funds. Currently, the school is closed from kindergarten to elementary school and junior high school. In particular, many elementary and junior high schools in my area are closed. I can understand that the school is closed due to the decrease in the number of children, but why do the kindergarten and school managers not notify the guardians in advance and even run away with the funds? What is the reason for this kind of behavior, which deceives students and guardians, to recur in China? The background of this situation is not only the economic situation, but also the collapse of morality in modern China.