OSAKA — The Osaka Prefectural Board of Education is considering a plan to establish partnerships between all prefecture – run high schools and overseas schools, where students will study and interact in English with the help of subsidies.
According to the plan, about 20 students from each prefectural high school will be dispatched to sister schools abroad for about one week to 10 days. Each student will receive a subsidy of 100,000 yen (about $630) from the Osaka Prefecture.
The program aims to enhance the English proficiency of high school students in line with the 2025 Osaka Expo. The Osaka Prefectural Government hopes to fully implement the program by the 2028 academic year. According to the education board, prefecture – wide overseas study programs are rare in Japan.
As of the 2025 academic year, there will be 145 prefectural high schools in Osaka, and 49 of them have already established sister – school relationships with overseas counterparts. However, in recent years, due to the soaring travel expenses and price hikes, some schools have been unable to raise budgets for sending students abroad. Under the new program, the parents of students will receive a 100,000 – yen subsidy for travel and other expenses, and the remaining part will be borne by each household.
Potential sister schools need to allow students to communicate in English. Schools in the United States, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, China and other places are among the candidates for such partnerships.
Prefectural high schools that have secured sister schools will be the first to send their students abroad for exchanges. In the 2025 academic year, the program will be implemented in advance at 49 high schools that already have sister – school affiliations.
The education board plans to allocate approximately 260 million yen (about 1.62 million) for the program, including the commission fees for private businesses tasked with finding sister schools overseas. It is expected that the yearly budget will be increased to around 500 million yen (approx. 3.18 million) from the 2028 school year onwards.
Since the implementation of the free tuition program, private high schools in Osaka Prefecture have become increasingly popular, which poses a challenge for prefectural high schools to attract students. Starting from the 2023 school year, the education board has assigned native English – speaking instructors to all schools and has developed unique educational apps focusing on English language education.
An official from the education board said, “Taking the Osaka Expo as a good opportunity to interact with people from various countries, we hope to cultivate talents who can play active roles overseas.”
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