The government's decision to make the study of English mandatory for fifth- and sixth-graders in Japan beginning in 2020 is a step in the right direction. But its success in preparing young people for the world that awaits them largely depends on the skill of the teachers public schools hire.
That's why the outlook is not encouraging. According to an education ministry survey in fiscal 2015, only 4.9 percent of elementary school teachers were licensed to teach English. Despite efforts by the government beginning in fiscal 2014 to increase the number of expert teachers, there still remains a huge shortfall.
The challenge, however, is not only to recruit 144,000 new English teachers, which alone is daunting enough, but to hire those who possess the expertise to boost the ranking of Japanese students on the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). Japan stands at the bottom of the list on the speaking ability of its students. Improving that humiliating distinction will require finding native English speakers.