Public school tuition is free; supplies and lunch can be helped if the board agrees
就学援助と公立学校の授業料
- Applies to
- All of Japan
- Source last checked
- , Open the Japanese source
- Official source
- 外国人児童生徒のための就学ガイドブック（文部科学省）
The Ministry of Education's guidebook for foreign children says tuition at public elementary schools, junior highs, the elementary and junior-high departments of special-needs schools, and the lower course of combined secondary schools is free.
Textbooks for those compulsory years are given to each child free at the start of the school year. Extra workbooks are not. You pay for those. High-school textbooks are not free, except that a prefectural board can cover the full cost for the high-school department of a special-needs school.
If money makes it hard to attend a public elementary or junior high, and the municipal board of education recognizes that, the guidebook says you can receive help with things such as school supplies and lunch fees (就学援助, shūgaku enjo). The guidebook does not print an income line. Ask your municipal board, and use the application the ward sends. The paper names the deadline and the documents.
For high school, the same guidebook says tuition support (高等学校等就学支援金) can be received if you qualify, that a private high school can mean a higher amount depending on income, that it does not have to be repaid, and that the school hands out the form. Prefectures also run a separate grant for costs other than tuition for lower-income households (高校生等奨学給付金). Ask the prefecture's high-school desk. The later ministry packet on how to file is a separate article.
Nothing here says a particular family will be approved. Verify with the board or the school.
Your child's dates, not the general ones
Add your child and ward. The timeline does the rest.