The education ministry on Wednesday presented its advisory panel with an outline of its proposed overhaul of school curriculum guidelines, suggesting modern history should be taught as a compulsory subject in high schools by integrating the existing courses on Japanese and world history.
The envisioned curriculum review apparently reflects the intention of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government to place emphasis on patriotism, observers said.
Abe and some members of his Liberal Democratic Party have called for making Japanese history, currently an elective, a mandatory subject in high schools. At present, world history is taught as a compulsory subject.