Intended to help give children from less-advantaged economic backgrounds a shot at higher education, the government's plan to do away with tuition at public high schools falls short of the goal when it comes to single-parent households, according to a survey last month by the nonprofit group Ashinaga. </PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Starting in April, the government will eliminate tuition at public high schools in a bid to provide equal educational opportunities to all students, even those from poorer families.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>However, the survey showed that 58.6 percent of 308 high school students who have lost a parent already have scholarships that fully or partly cover high school fees, leading many single mothers to consider the new plan inadequate to ensure their children get a good education. </PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'People don't seem to understand that the issue of education for children in a single-parent household isn't solved by the free tuition,' Toshihiko Kudo, the director of the NPO, which supports students who have lost a parent, said at a news conference Wednesday.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'Students also need financial support to cover other educational expenses,' including school trips, school supplies, cram school fees and books, he said.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Excluding tuition, parents spend on average &#165;400,000 a year on educational expenses for a public high school student and &#165;710,000 for one at a private school, according to statistics. These figures drop to &#165;265,000 and &#165;350,000, respectively, for high school students from single-parent households, the group said, quoting data from its own survey.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Kudo said many high school students from single-mother households, which have an average annual income of &#165;2.46 million, are giving up hope of going to university although 'higher education is the only way for those children to break the vicious circle of poverty,' Kudo said.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>More high school students are opting to get a job after graduation because of financial circumstances, rising to 53.9 percent of survey respondents last month from 40.1 percent last December, he said.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Saki Morimoto, a senior at Komazawa Women's University who receives an Ashinaga scholarship, said the life of a single-parent household is 'very tough.' She was 6 when she lost her father, and her mother took care of her and her sick grandparents while working full time, she said.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'I feel like –

don't even have the right to live," she said, adding she wants society to become more supportive of impoverished single-parent households.

The NPO surveyed 385 single mothers and 433 high school students in single-parent households.