They said that Korean students were forced to choose Japanese schools as only Korean schools are excluded from the program and the right to learning on an equal footing is encroached upon.

They urged the ministry to settle the issue of applying the program in a responsible way.

The number of Japanese who sign their names in support of the settlement of the above-said issue is on increase, they said, adding the Japanese government is rendering an ear to the voices of opposition forces, not the voices of the people.

In the written request they said that it was a discriminatory act that the Japanese government and the ministry excluded Korean schools from the program by revising the ministry's decree on applying the program.

They noted that Korean schools have substantial conditions for the appliance of the program.

The actions for settling the issue are being launched in different parts of Japan, they said, demanding the Japanese government immediately apply the program to Korean schools.

On the same day students of Korea University and Tokyo Korea middle and high school and members of the mothers' society of the school waged a Friday action denouncing the Japanese authorities for discriminating Korean schools.