An experts' panel of the education ministry on Dec. 26 recommended that the ministry upgrade a current morals class, which is conducted without textbooks, to an officially designated subject and screen textbooks to be used for the subject. The ministry will introduce the subject of morals in fiscal 2015 at the earliest.
Teaching morals as a subject carries the danger of instilling a subjective set of values on children and preventing them from thinking autonomously in coping with particular situations. The move by the ministry is another blatant move by the Abe administration to increase political intervention in education.
At present, a morals class is held once a week at elementary and junior high schools for a total of 35 times a year. Although the course of study covers moral education, the current class of morals is not treated as a subject but as part of overall education activities. Therefore, students are not evaluated or given a grade.