A new class covering unconventional subjects will appear in the nation's elementary and junior high schools as early as next April, the Education Ministry announced Wednesday.
The class, called "general studies," allows schools to cover topics such as social welfare, environmental studies, foreign language conversation and information systems that are not included in the ministry's curriculum.
The class will be one of the first steps toward the so-called unique education mapped out by the ministry's revised courses of study. The guidelines, published in December, call for the fostering of children's "ability to learn" in kindergarten, elementary and junior high school.