After many twists and turns in pursuit of a noble ideal, attempts to reform the university entrance exam system have floundered, unable to resolve certain practical problems.   Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Koichi Hagiuda has officially announced that plans have been dropped for the introduction of open-ended questions and private-sector English tests on the Common Test for….Read more

Yomiuri wrote that a GOJ panel discussing the revitalization of Japan’s education system submitted a set of recommendations to Prime Minister Suga on Thursday. While the panel recommended that the government forgo starting the school year in September instead of April for primary, junior high, and high schools, the panel stressed the need to make the start of the academic year and other systems more flexible for universities and colleges. Sankei ran….Read more

Tokyo, May 17 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government will cooperate with local governments to further improve the teaching system at public elementary schools in Japan, education minister Koichi Hagiuda said Monday.   Hagiuda and other government officials met with representatives from local governments, including the National Governors’ Association, to discuss elementary school education following the enactment in March of legislation to….Read more

Some new junior high school textbooks screened for use in April have revived the description “military comfort women,” a post-war term whose use is associated with the argument that the women were “forcefully taken.” At the root of this argument is a 1993 statement made by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono acknowledging the women were recruited by force. The statement has since been used to justify erecting sculptures of comfort women overseas and continues to damage Japan’s reputation.    The description “military comfort women” is found in junior high school history textbooks published by Yamakawa Shuppan, which….Read more

Tokyo, May 26 (Jiji Press)–Opinions in favor of changing the start of the school year in Japan to September from April are dwindling rapidly among lawmakers in the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition.   This is because a number of schools are moving to reopen after the government fully lifted its state of emergency over the outbreak of the new….Read more

Tokyo, May 19 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government is considering a plan that would see the enrollment age of students gradually shift over a five-year period to accommodate the envisioned change to the timing to start the school year in the country, it was learned Monday.   The plan is part of a proposal to move the beginning of the academic….Read more

The government shouldn’t rush to reach a decision on pushing back the start of an academic year to September, a prospect that would entail momentous changes to the nation’s educational system and possibly cost universities billions of yen in losses, a group of scholars said in a statement Monday.

Monday’s Yomiuri wrote that the emerging view that Japan should shift the start of its school year from April to September in response to the prolonged school closure due to the coronavirus outbreak has met with many obstacles, including the need for legal amendment and coordination with preschool operations. The paper wrote that the GOJ is carefully discussing the idea….Read more

Tokyo, April 30 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government has begun work to realize a proposed shift of the beginning of the school year to September from April, Jiji Press learned Thursday.   Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiro Sugita called the vice ministers of relevant government agencies to the prime minister’s office to instruct them to identify problems that must be resolved….Read more

Tokyo, April 30 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s business world is expected to generally welcome a proposal to move the start of the academic year from April to September, which is being considered by the government as schools continue to be closed amid the coronavirus epidemic.   Pushing school enrollment to September, and subsequently moving the start of employment for new graduates to….Read more