Japanese language school operator to refund Ukrainian students

MAEBASHI - The operator of a Japanese language school here will refund Ukrainian evacuee students after a fees dispute, the company has announced.

The school operator Nippon Academy posted a document on its website stating: We will refund tuition fees that are in dispute with the Ukrainian students. Since May 2022, the school corporation has acted as a guarantor for students evacuated from Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion, and has accepted about 40 Ukrainians at the language school since May 2022. In September of the same year, Ukrainian students were asked to pay tuition fees. Some of them protested, saying that they had been told that tuition would be free for a period, but were asked to pay during that period.

Nippon Academy chairman Masumi Shimizu stated at a Feb. 24 press conference that this would last until the students became independent. He said that the support for Ukrainians is generous, and was referring to some of the students. They are refugee aristocrats, to put it bluntly. In response to these comments, the Gunma Prefectural Government issued administrative guidance to the school operator on March 15, urging them to strengthen company governance and make operational improvements. Nippon Academy held a board of directors meeting on March 18 and decided that Shimizu would step down as chairman and submit an improvement plan to the prefectural government on March 22. The board of directors will step down on March 31 according to the latest document.