An expert panel of the education ministry has recommended that ethics should be upgraded to part of the official curriculum in public elementary and junior high schools and that government-authorized textbooks should be used in teaching the subject, a source said.

Amid skepticism among critics and caution within the ministry and the ruling coalition about the feasibility, the expert panel examining measures to beef up ethics will present a draft report on the proposal at a meeting Monday before putting together its final view by the end of the year.

In February, the government's education task force, created in response to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wish for education reform, proposed ethics be built into the school curriculum. This was suggested to foster awareness about social norms in the hope of reducing bullying. It failed to attain endorsement from a higher advisory body.