All Foreigners' Schools
International students in Japan who graduate from international schools are not always eligible to take national university entrance exams. The Ministry of Education did not recognize international schools as equivalents of official Japanese high schools. On March 6, 2003 the Ministry of Education announced a new policy that would allow new graduates of certain European and North American international schools to take Japanese university entrance exams. Other Asian international schools were excluded.It reinforced discrimination against North and South Korean schools; the subject of concern and recommendation of treaty monitoring bodies under various international human rights treaties. The policy infringed on the right to education of foreign children in violation of the government’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In March, as part of the general public response, the JCLU released a statement demanding the Ministry of Education to take measures to allow the graduates of all foreign schools to take national university entrance exams.
On August 6, 2003 the Ministry of Education announced a revised plan to take effect in September. The September revision added five Asian schools, including the Tokyo Korean School and the Tokyo Chinese School, to the list of sixteen European and North American international schools whose graduates were qualified to take university entrance exams. Since then, other foreign schools have been added.
North Korean schools, however continue to be excluded. The government claims that the curriculum of the North Korean international schools cannot be confirmed as equivalent to Japanese high school curricula. The North Korean graduates are not officially recognized; in order to take exams, the students need permission from their desired school.