日本[にほん]の文部科学省[もんぶかがくしょう](=Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)は、2015年から、所得[しょとく] (= income)の低[ひく]い(= low)家庭[かてい] (= household)の子供[こども]が多[おお]い小[しょう]・中学校[ちゅうがっこう]に教員[きょういん] (= teaching staff)を増[ふ]やすことを決めました。
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced that more teachers will be allocated to schools with children from low-income households.
子[こ]どもの貧困[ひんこん] (= poverty)については、以前[いぜん]このブログでも書[か]きました。朝日[あさひ]新聞[しんぶん]のこの記事[きじ]によると(= according to)、所得[しょとく]が低[ひく]い家庭[かてい]が25%を占[し]めて(= to occupy)、そして、100人以上[いじょう] (= over)の生徒[せいと] (= pupil)がいる学校[がっこう]は全国[ぜんこく] (= across the country)に2,000校[こう]あるそうです。今後[こんご]10年で、各校[かくこう] (= each school)に1人ずつ教員[きょういん]を配分[はいぶん]する(= to allocate)予定[よてい]だそうです。つまり、政府[せいふ] (= the government)はこれから教員[きょういん]を2000人増[ふ]やすということです。
教員[きょういん]が増[ふ]えるのは素晴[すば]らしいことです。2000人というのも大[おお]きな数[かず] (= number) です。ですが、一校[いっこう]に1人の教員[きょういん]が加[くわ]わる(= to be added)だけで、大丈夫[だいじょうぶ]なのでしょうか。何[なに]もないよりいいですけど。。。
As I wrote here before, child poverty is now a serious social issue in Japan. The number of children on poverty line has increased these years and its rate is 16.3% as of 2012. Parents' low income often means less opportunities of education. According to this article, there are about 2,000 elementary and junior high schools in Japan which fall in the following category – schools with over 100 pupils and more than 25% of them are kids from low-income households. This type of schools will be given with one extra teacher from next year; meaning the government will create 2,000 new teaching position in order to provide more opportunities for such kids to receive better education. It sounds good, but I am not so sure if it’s enough to deliver sufficient improvement. I have to say that any investment to school education should be great though…