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CHAPTER APPROPRIATION OF AND SHARE IN EDUCATIONAL EXPENDITURE

The per student expenditures in real terms have been gradually increasing at all levels of education: elementary, secondary and higher. The following table shows the amounts and indices of the per student expenditures at 1962 prices. The per student expenditures in this table are shown in terms of the average total expenditures (including capital outlay) per student enrolled in public and nonpublic educational establishments.

Table 65. Trends in Total Educational Expenditures Per Student

The rate of increase in the per student expenditures is the highest at the e1ementary level, followed by the secondary level. The per student expenditures at the higher education level decreased between 1961 and 1962. In 1950 the expenditures per student enrolled in higher education were more than eight times those per pupil enrolled in elementary education, while in 1962 the former were five times the latter.

It 1950 the cost per student enrolled in secondary school was nearly twice that per pupil enrolled in elementary school, while in 1962 the former was only 40% more than the latter. The differences in per student expenditures between school levels diminished during the period 1950 to 1962.

The following table compares the per student expenditures for public education in Japan with those in four other countries.

Table 66. Expenditures Per Student Enrolled in Public Educational Establishments in Five Countries.

Per student expenditures in different countries should be examined in relation to the national income per capita in the respective countries.

The elementary and secondary school expenditures for student, as well as the national income per capita, is lower in Japan than in any of the four other countries indicated. The cost per pupil in Japan is only a fifth of that in the Federal Republic of Germany, and slightly more than OIIC-half of that in Great Britain and the United States.

Japan has the lowest per student cost at the higher education level, too. It is less than a third of that in Great Britain, and between one-half and one-third of that in West Germany and the United States.

The low expenditures per student in Japan is attributable to the low national income per capita in this country. In the case of Great Britain (England and Wales), however, per student cost is 2.7 times that of Japan at the elementary and secondary level, and 3.1 times at the higher education level, while the national income per capita is only 2.4 times that of Japan. Further effort should be made to increase educational expenditures in this country.

Costs per student enrolled in elementary and secondary schools in Japan vary among regions and communities. The finding of the 1962 national survey of educational expenditures shows that the average expenditures per pupil enrolled in elementary school was \45,163 in one prefecture, while it was \22,315 in another prefecture; \23,000 less than the former. The difference in per pupil costs among prefectures has been increasing. The "coefficient of variation" in the table below represents the degree of difference among prefectures.

Table 67. Prefecture and National Averages in Costs Per Pupil Enrolled in Elementary School

In brief, further efforts are needed to raise costs per student in this country, and at the same time it is an important task to minimize the difference in expenses per pupil among regions and communities.