An education advisory panel to the prime minister on Friday submitted an interim report calling for drastic changes in the current education system that would nurture volunteer spirit among students by requiring them to do community service.
The report also emphasized the importance of fostering a sense of self-reliance and originality in individual children by discarding the conventional idea of a standardized education.
This is apparently an attempt to develop more capable future generations in an increasingly competitive world and at a time when Japan's economic power is on the decline.