Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the second meeting of the Council for Combating Childhood Poverty at the Prime Minister’s Office.

During the meeting, discussions took place on a draft framework on ways to combat childhood poverty.

Based on the discussion in the meeting, the Prime Minister said,

“The Council for Combating Childhood Poverty has just compiled a draft framework.
The draft framework was compiled based on the preparation guidelines decided at the first meeting of the Council in April, following the solicitation of opinions from experts and related parties, and after I personally heard from experts directly yesterday.
We will aim to realize a society where all children can grow up with dreams and aspirations. In particular we will coordinate with schools and regions to promote measures such as learning assistance, the reduction of the burden of education expenses, and cooperation between schools and welfare organizations, while continuing to address this issue from a medium- to long-term perspective.
I would like to ask that all relevant Cabinet members work as one to implement measures to combat childhood poverty, while thoroughly verifying and assessing the state of their implementation.”