In a town where the number of births does not stop declining birthrate ... December 24, 16:47
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare concluded that the number of births, which indicates the number of children born in one year, was less than 900,000 for the first time, with more than 860,000 nationwide. Some municipalities across the country have had no children last year.
Hayakawa Town, with a population of over 1,000 in the southwestern part of Yamanashi Prefecture, is one of them. The aging of the population is declining, and the number of people aged 65 and over is 45% of the total. The number of births has been “0” since 1989, the second time since 2011.
The major factor is the decline of young people due to the decline of major industries and the lack of high schools in the town.
Originally there were six elementary schools in the town, but schools have been closed one after another, and now there are only two schools.
One of them is Hayakawa Kita Elementary School, which has 20 children. Some school years have only one child. The nursery attached to the elementary school was closed eight years ago.
Even so, the quality of education must not be degraded by the town, and the town recruits its own teachers and assigns classroom teachers for each school year.
Mr. Junmi Fukasawa, principal of Hayakawa Kita Elementary School, said, "If the number of students is small, there will be effects such as the inability to play team-based sports, but the strength of the small classes is the strength of small groups."
A fifth grade elementary school girl said, "I have a small number of people, but I'll get along well beyond the school year, so I don't feel lonely."
In addition, the town is expanding its support for raising children and trying to attract migrants from outside, in an effort to curb the decline in children.
In addition to free teaching materials for schools and elementary and junior high school materials, school lunches, and medical expenses until graduation from junior high school, we provide support to family migrants to use municipal and vacant homes.
Twenty-two households have emigrated since 2012, and two children have been born from the household that has emigrated.
According to Mayor Kazuyuki Tsuji of Hayakawa Town, "particularly in an area like ours, I think it will be a time when the survival of the area will be difficult unless policies such as expansion of child care support and immigration promotion are taken step by step. I would like to aim for a town that has the presence of being able to work and raise children while discovering the value inside. "