6 Pct of 2nd-Yr Junior High Children in Japan Give Care to Family

Tokyo, April 12 (Jiji Press)--A government survey showed Monday that 5.7 pct of children in the second year of junior high school in Japan have family members who suffer chronic illness or other problems and are receiving care from them. The survey on so-called "young carers" by the welfare and education ministries also found that more than 10 pct of such children spend seven hours or more per weekday taking care of family members. The survey results were reported to the ministries' joint project team the same day. This was the first Japanese government survey on young carers. The government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced in March a decision to provide support to young carers, who are aged under 18, as care-giving is a major burden for children. The project team will draw up detailed measures by May for inclusion in the government's basic economic and fiscal policy guidelines. The survey, conducted online between December last year and this February, covered second-year students at public junior high schools, second-year students at full-day high schools and correspondence high school students. Responses were received from 5,558 junior high school students and 7,407 full-day high school students. A total of 319 junior high school students said that they have family members to whom they provide care. Of the respondents, 45.1 pct said they give such care almost every day, while 17.9 pct and 14.4 pct said they give the care three to five days a week and one or two days a week, respectively. The average number of hours spent for giving care per weekday stood at 4.0 hours, with 42.0 pct of the children, the largest group, saying that they spend less than three hours. Meanwhile, 11.6 pct said they spend seven hours or more on care-giving. Among second-year students at full-day high schools, 307 respondents, or 4.1 pct, said they take care of family members, 47.6 pct of whom give care almost every day. The average time spent on care-giving per weekday stood at 3.8 hours. The proportion of high-school-age caregivers spending seven hours or more came to 10.7 pct. Siblings are the most common recipients of care, cited by 61.8 pct of junior high school children and 44.3 pct by high school children, followed by parents and grandparents. END