(2) Percentage of Enrollment in Compulsory Schools
The percentage of children of compulsory school age actually
enrolled in compulsory schools in Japan is 99.9 per cent, which is the highest
compared with such advanced countries, as the United States of America, the United
Kingdom, West Germany and France.
Table 3. Percentage of Enrollment in Compulsory Schools
in Major Countries
It must not be overlooked, however, that, even in Japan with
its high percentage of compulsory school enrollment, there are children, though
their number is small, who fail to attend school for long periods of time on
account of illness or economic difficulties. Elementary and lower secondary school
pupils who failed to attend school for a long period of time(over 50 days, intermittently
or continuously) totalled approximately 120,000 in 1963. This was 0.7 per cent
of the total number of children of compulsory school age. Of these long-term
absentees, 53 per cent was caused by illness, 13 per cent by economic difficulties.
. QUANTITATIVE EXPANSIONOF EDUCATION