State-run schools in Japan were short of 2,558 teachers at the start of the current school year in April 2021, a survey by the education ministry showed Monday.
There was still a shortage of 2,065 teachers as of May 1. As a result, vice principals and other administrative school staff had to substitute as homeroom teachers at some elementary schools, while some junior and senior high schools could not give necessary lessons.
The ministry conducted such a survey for the first time, counting the number of teachers that schools are short of compared with the number of teachers that local governments planned to assign to schools.
At the start of the school year, elementary schools were short of 1,218 teachers, junior high schools 868 teachers, and senior high schools 217 teachers.
Such shortages were confirmed at 4.9% of elementary schools, 7.0% of junior high schools and 4.8% of senior high schools.
Special-needs schools were short of 255 teachers, with 13.1% of such schools having teacher shortages.
As of May 1, elementary schools were short of 474 homeroom teachers. To tackle this shortage, some teachers who were supposed to be assigned to small group teaching had to substitute as homeroom teacher.
There were 53 cases of principals, vice principals and other administrative staff substituting as homeroom teachers.
Also, 16 junior high schools and five senior high schools were short of teachers for such subjects as home economics, music and fine arts, and were unable to provide necessary lessons. The shortages, however, were largely resolved by the end of May.
The teacher shortages came after some teachers were not assigned to schools as planned because of illness, pregnancy, childbirth or other reasons, and schools were unable to secure substitutes.
This is because schools do not have enough “nonregular” teachers, the ministry said. Many nonregular teachers have become regular teachers in line with mass retirements of teachers.
“The environment for teachers is very tough. We would like to take measures to improve the working environment,” a ministry official said.
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