Japan Eyes More Discretion for Schools under New Curriculum

Tokyo, Dec. 25 (Jiji Press)--Japanese education minister Toshiko Abe on Wednesday asked a government panel to consider ways to give schools more discretion to determine class hours and content as part of a planned overall revision of the country’s school curriculum guidelines.

The minister also asked the Central Council for Education to come up with measures to improve the media literacy of schoolchildren.

The council, which advises the education minister, will discuss the issues with the aim of presenting a set of curriculum revision proposals by the end of 2026.

The curriculum guidelines are revised roughly every 10 years. The current guidelines were issued in 2017 for elementary and junior high schools and in 2018 for senior high schools. Classes based on the new guidelines are expected to start in stages from fiscal 2028.

Abe underlined the need for a flexible educational curriculum that will encourage the ingenuity of each school and board of education in order to make schools more inclusive for children from various backgrounds.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]