Participants in a preparatory meeting to create a society to promote the use of newspapers in education at schools decided Saturday to work toward launching the group in March.
The purpose of creating a Newspaper in Education, or NIE, society is to promote mutual exchanges and research between prefectural NIE promotion councils and NIE research groups, according to its prospectus.
The creation of the society is also aimed at paving the way for those who are interested in NIE but have not been able to join activities so far to take part in the movement, it says.
The society will open its doors to such people as education personnel, researchers, media personnel, and university and graduate school students, it adds.
NIE activities have so far been reliant on the newspaper industry, but the establishment of the society would help the activities to become more independent and center on educators and citizens, the prospectus says.