Ultimatums given on fees for school meals

Some municipal boards of education have introduced stricter measures, including the threat of legal action, to ensure parents pay their children's meal fees at public schools.

Children serve meals at an elementary school in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. The city has taken stricter measures to make parents pay the school lunch fees. (THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)

Many other education boards are expected to follow suit, as the total amount in arrears for lunch fees was about 2.2 billion yen across the nation, according to the results of an education ministry survey released in January 2007.

The board of education in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, introduced a new arrangement this month to collect payments. Its 56 city-run schools, including elementary and junior high schools, now require children's parents and guardians to submit applications for the school lunch program.

Unpaid lunch fees in Ichikawa reached 2.5 million yen, or 0.22 percent of the total required, in fiscal 2006. The percentage has been rising every year.

In February, a local elementary school sent to pupils' guardians a letter from the board of education along with an application form for the one-year meal program. The form required the signature and seal of the guardians.

The letter said if unpaid lunch fees continue to grow, it could jeopardize the school's entire lunch program. It also warned that children will have to bring their own lunches to school if their guardians fail to submit the application form or pay the meal fees.

The school did not encounter any trouble collecting the application forms, but the board's move drew fire from some of the locals.

One person said the city should somehow shoulder the delinquent payments because it is not the children's fault. Another complained that the application was offensive to those who have always paid on time.

Hiroaki Sato, who heads the city's federation of parent-teacher associations, said the stricter step is necessary.

"It's a crime if you don't pay for your meal in a restaurant," Sato said. "I think that it is something we will have no choice but to accept."

The Ichikawa board of education has received inquiries about its new system from more than 30 municipalities across the country.

The education ministry's survey showed that 13,907 elementary and junior high schools that offer school meal programs reported cases of fees in arrears. The figure represents more than 40 percent of all schools with the lunch services.

Sixty percent of the school officials who responded cited a lack of responsibility or consciousness among parents and guardians as the cause of the failure to pay.

About 33 percent cited financial difficulties of the children's families.

In fiscal 2006, Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, began to file motions with a summary court to press for lunch-fee payments from households that fail to pay despite their sound financial standing.

The city said there were five or six such cases each in fiscal 2006 and 2007.

When one guardian showed no intention to pay even after receiving the court's notice, the city started arranging for the seizure of part of the guardian's salary.(IHT/Asahi: April 29,2008)