"Of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior" — that's Merriam-Webster's dictionary definition of the slippery word "moral." "Moral education," however, it does not define. Somebody will have to.
In October 2011, a 13-year-old boy in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, committed suicide. "Bullying," in this case as in many similar ones, seems the merest euphemism for the torture his classmates had been putting him through. Teachers were reportedly aware of what was going on. They shrugged, turned a blind eye, laughed. Boys will be boys.
Define "moral" as you will — this is clearly immoral. It jolted the education ministry into action. Current "moral education" was evidently inadequate. It needed reinforcement. Experts met, discussed, planned, recommended. The upshot is that as of 2018, "moral education," now an ungraded school "activity," will become a full-fledged "subject," subject to teacher evaluation though not actual grading, its content subject to government oversight.