School teachers in Japan work more than 11 hours a day: survey

Oct 31, 2018 | News On Japan

Oct 31, 2018 (Kyodo) - Teachers and officials at elementary, junior high and high schools across Japan are working more than 11 hours per day on average, raising concern about serious health repercussions or even deaths, a government survey showed Tuesday.

Senior staff such as vice principals were found to have worked particularly long hours, with their daily average standing at about 12.5 hours.

This means they worked 4.5 extra hours per day, or 90 hours per month, well over the 80-hour monthly overtime threshold, beyond which the risk of "karoshi" or death from overwork, could increase.

In the survey which drew responses from some 35,000 school teachers and officials, 80.7 percent said they have stress or concerns related to work, of whom 43.4 percent cited long working hours as the cause of their distress in a multiple-choice question.

Among other reasons behind stress, 40.2 percent cited personal relationships at work and 38.3 percent dealing with parents.

The survey results were mentioned in a white paper on measures to prevent death from overwork adopted by the government on Tuesday. The document was released based on a law to promote steps against death from overwork, which came into force in 2014.

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