With the new academic year beginning in April, universities in Japan are reporting a drop in new and ongoing student enrolment linked to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on families’ economic circumstances and on student mental health.

A February survey conducted by Kawaijuku, a leading education institute, showed applications for the country’s 107 major private universities’ exams normally taken in April were down 12% compared to last year.

“The biggest reasons cited by students for dropping out are financial difficulties as well as debilitating loneliness given the lack of campus life as their classes are now online,” said Tomihiro Kokubo, in charge of student counselling at JAIC, a recruitment organisation advising students and universities. Read More

 

For the upcoming fiscal year, Jamaica will invest $114 billion or approximately six per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in education.

Opening the 2021/22 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on March 9, Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke said that the Government continues to allocate the largest share of its Budget, outside of debt repayment, to education.

He noted that even in the worst health crisis in 100 years, Jamaica continues to place education as its number-one priority expenditure.

“Education expenditure will represent approximately 21 per cent of non-debt expenditure. So one dollar out of every five that we spend on non-debt expenditure goes to education. That is prioritisation by the Jamaican State,” he said.

Dr. Clarke noted that the six per cent of GDP allocated to education puts Jamaica within the upper echelons of the world.

He said that this is more than Singapore, which spends approximately three per cent of GDP on education and also more than the island’s upper-middle-income peers, which spend on average, four per cent of GDP. Read More