The government has issued guidelines allowing high school students to participate in political activities now that the voting age for elections has been lowered to 18 from 20.
The education ministry sent the new guidelines to prefectural education boards, scrapping instructions from 1969 banning high schoolers from joining demonstrations and other political gatherings outside school.
The guideline, issued to boards of education nationwide, still bans students from engaging in political activities or electoral campaigns inside of schools, in line with the Fundamental Act of Education, which calls for political neutrality in education. They also urge teachers to refrain from expressing their political views in front of students.