Proposal to have a baby to reduce student debt causes scandal in Japan

The first Minister JapaneseFumio Kishida, received widespread criticism after his party suggested easing the debt student under the condition of having children, in order to try to stop the fall in the birth rate in the archipelago.

Kishida earlier this year promised “unprecedented” measures to combat falling birth rates in Japan, a chronic and increasingly acute problem.

Kishida’s political formation, the Liberal Democrat Partya (PLD, right), is working on several proposals on the subject, which will be presented to the government at the end of March, according to local media.

But one of those proposals, which conditions the reduction of student debt to paternity, sparked a wave of criticism.

“Demanding a child in exchange for a reduction in student debt is a bad measure to deal with the low birth rate”said Friday the senator noriko ishigaki during a discussion at the Upper House of the Japanese Parliament, in the presence of the Prime Minister.

Kishida gave few details about the content of the proposal, preferring to insist on the need to “respect” a “free and vigorous” debate on the issue.

Criticism also flowed on Twitter. “It’s like saying Pay with your body!” wrote one user of the social network indignantly, while another considered that the PLD’s measures amount to “treating human beings like cattle.”

Masahiko Shibayama, PLD deputy – who heads the commission working on this matter – assured the Japanese media that this measure was intended to financially support families, and not penalize homes without children.

“We are approaching this as an extension of supporting children’s education, rather than as a childbirth related policy,” he told the Asahi television network.