A STUDY ON THE CONCEPT OF SCHOOL ATTENDEE ALLOWANCE OF THE JAPANESE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION BEFORE THE ENACTMENT OF THE NEW PUBLIC ASSISTANCE ACT ; FOCUSING ON THE RELATION BETWEEN THE FREE COMPULSORY EDUCATION PROGRAM AND PUBLIC ASSISTANCE SYSTEM

<p>The purpose of this paper is to clarify the concept of the School Attendee Allowance before the enactment of the Old Public Assistance Act focusing on the relation between the free compulsory education scheme and public assistance system.</p><p>The Findings of this study are as follows;</p><p>Firstly, there is continuity between the pre-war and post-war School Attendee Allowance programs in the point that the Ministry of Education discussed the items of the School Attendee Allowance under the recognition of the necessity of help for the economically distressed households. However there existed a gap in the fact that free School Attendee Allowance was considered in the post war plan. Since in the discussions in the early post-war period, the possibility of change of expenses was suggested, the Free Compulsory Education scheme and School Attendee Allowance program might not be thought to be unchangeable.</p><p>Secondly, the principle of equal opportunity in education after World War II was inseparably linked to the Social Security system. Therefore the Ministry of Education had thought that the security of children’s livelihood was indispensable to ensure the right to education, and thus it designed the School Attendee Allowance program. However, in the end the program came to a standstill because of tight national finance and the unification of various social security schemes under one Public Assistance System.</p><p>Thirdly, the integration of the School Attendee Allowance program into the Public Assistance System was one of the factors which helped to facilitate the separation of school expenses from Public Livelihood Assistance. Consequently the content of aid for school expenses was more or less improved. Therefore the School Attendee Allowance program might contribute to enriching the educational side of Livelihood Assistance. However the aid for educational expense as Public Assistance was insufficient due to a poor basis for calculating and limited target by disqualification. It can be said that the insufficiency of the Public Assistance program made the Ministry of Education aim at reinstitutionalization of the School Attendee Allowance program.</p>