The academic ability of high school seniors in mathematics and science is significantly below the education ministry's expectations.
A nationwide survey conducted in November 2002 and released Friday by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry tested participants in Japanese, English, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and geology, and found that participants performed below expectations in all subjects except Japanese.
The survey, the first of its kind since 1962, covered 105,000 randomly selected students, accounting for around 8 percent of all third-year high school students nationwide.