Tokyo, Aug. 25 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology will make a general-account budget request of 5,916.1 billion yen for fiscal 2022 from next April, Jiji Press learned Wednesday.

The figure is up 11.7 pct from the ministry’s initial budget for fiscal 2021, boosted by measures to reduce the workload of teachers that increased amid the coronavirus crisis and promote the digitalization of education.

Of the total, 4,385.9 billion yen will be requested for education, 43 billion yen for sports, 131.1 billion yen for art and culture, and 1,177.4 billion yen for science and technology.

In the education field, the ministry will request 28.8 billion yen to increase nonteaching staff at schools for miscellaneous duties.

Such staff will conduct disinfection against the novel coronavirus, help teachers grade examination papers and answer the telephone, in order to ease burdens on teachers and help them focus on educating children.

The ministry hopes to earmark 6.4 billion yen to send information and communications technology instructors to schools, at a time when online lessons have become popular amid the pandemic.

This budget will also be used to establish support centers to deal with problems with digital devices distributed to schoolchildren.

In the area of sports, 10.6 billion yen will be requested to make Japanese athletes more competitive after the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.