The rapid spread of influenza in Japan has caused a massive closing of schools across the nation. According to the health ministry of Japan, 13,964 schools have either been completed closed or had some classes cancelled due to the number of infected students reported between October 18 and 24.
These schools include kindergarten facilities as well. The previous week saw 8,534 schools close. (more…)
Since 1981, the Japanese kanji list has remained unchanged. All of that will change next year. The Japanese government has decided that the characters are due for a bit of an overhaul.
In the fall of 2010, the joyo, or the general use kanji list, will have new revisions put into effect. The joyo is currently composed of 1,945 characters, and makes up the official list of characters able to be used in the government, as well as in the country’s newspapers. (more…)
The Japanese government is hoping to exponentially grow its foreign student population. According to the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education, a proposal is in the works that would raise the current number of foreign students to 300,000 by 2020.
This would be a massive increase from the current number of foreign students, which is about 120,000. (more…)
The Education, Science and Technology Minister of Japan, Tatsuo Kawabata, says that free public high school may be available as early as next spring.
The bill, based on the promises of a free public education made by the Democratic Party of Japan, may pass as part of Japan’s 2010 fiscal budget.
“We’ll eliminate wasteful spending in the ministry, but I don’t think that will be enough,” says Kawabata. Free education will cost the country 450 billion yen annually. (more…)
While American students can expect to be finished with school after 182 days spent in the classroom every year, Japanese students know that they’ll have a much longer school year ahead–one composed of 243 days.
The value of education in Japan is so high that not only is the school year generally longer, but students are also expected to spend after-school time studying instead of working part-time jobs like many American students might do. (more…)
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