38 teachers died from overwork in 9 years through fiscal 2023
Thirty-eight public elementary and junior high school teachers died from overwork-related causes, known as "karoshi," between fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2023.
The data was compiled by the Fund for Local Government Employees' Accident Compensation in Tokyo, which provides compensation and support to local government workers injured on the job or during commuting
Even after fiscal 2018, when the education ministry introduced a monthly overtime cap of 45 hours, 26 such cases were recorded.
Deaths are classified as karoshi when they result from work-related cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases, or from suicides linked to work-related mental health disorders.
According to the fund, public elementary and junior high school teachers accounted for 31 percent of all local government employees recognized as karoshi cases in fiscal 2022 and 23 percent in fiscal 2023.
Sachiko Kudo, 58, head of a support group for families of karoshi victims in Kanagawa Prefecture, is calling for more effective policy responses to address the problem.
Kudo, who lost her husband, a Yokohama public junior high school teacher, to a subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by overwork, stressed the need for government measures to prevent similar cases, including detailed investigations of each incident.
'There are many common factors in teachers' deaths from overwork,' she said. 'Examining each case thoroughly could help prevent further tragedies.'
SPECIAL OVERTIME SYSTEM FOR TEACHERS A FACTOR
One underlying cause of teachers' karoshi is the prevalence of excessive working hours. Some observers point to the law governing teacher compensation as a key reason why proper management of working hours has been lacking.
Under this law, teachers do not receive standard overtime pay. Instead, they are given a fixed-percentage supplement added to their base salaries.
Critics argue that this arrangement discourages school administrators from taking steps to limit working hours. The system has even been described as 'unlimited work for a fixed sum.'
This year, the law was amended during the regular Diet session. To improve working conditions, the revision will gradually increase the supplemental salary portion from the current 4 percent of base pay to 10 percent.
It also introduces mandatory requirements for local boards of education to develop and publicly disclose plans detailing targets and initiatives to reduce overtime.
During the Diet deliberations, lawmakers submitted additional amendments and the revised bill was ultimately passed into law.
Among the new provisions are explicit goals to reduce average monthly overtime to about 30 hours and to implement measures aimed at achieving class sizes of 35 students in public junior high schools. These measures were included as supplementary provisions.
However, throughout the Diet debate, some legislators questioned whether the compensation framework established under the law could effectively address the problem of excessive working hours, expressing skepticism about its potential to bring meaningful change.
CALLS FOR ABOLISHING THE LAW PERSIST
Yuji Nishimura, a teacher at a Gifu prefectural high school and a member of the volunteer group of citizens considering the future of the law on teachers' compensation, argues, 'Unless the law is abolished and replaced with a system that provides proper overtime pay, school administrators will have no incentive to reduce teachers' working hours or rein in rising personnel costs.'
By contrast, the education ministry continues to defend the system, citing reports from the Central Council for Education, an advisory body to the education minister, which describe the current framework as reasonable and respectful of teachers' professional discretion.
'We are not considering abolishing this system,' the ministry states.
(This article was written by Yukihito Takahama and Mayumi Ujioka, a senior staff writer.)
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