"Ashinaga" High School Student Aid Recipients Suffer Poverty

   Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)--Families of high school students receiving aid from Japan's Ashinaga Foundation suffer poverty in many cases, earning disposable incomes less than half the national average, a survey has found.
   "We want to strengthen support so that poverty will not get in the way of children's future," said the foundation, which provides educational funding for children who have lost one or both of their parents due to illness or other reasons.
   Ashinaga's survey, announced Wednesday, was conducted last October with 3,536 guardians of high school students receiving aid from the organization. Responses came from 66 pct, or 2,334 guardians.
   In the survey, some 70 pct of respondents said they had jobs. However, 61.3 pct of them were nonregular workers or part-timers.
   The average disposable income of all respondents was 1,878,000 yen, only 46.3 pct of the national average of 4,058,000 yen based on a labor ministry survey for 2023.

(2025/03/27-11:30)

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