Local governments may be empowered to do away with the current uniform elementary and junior high school years and set these periods according to local needs, according to a draft plan for reforming the nation's compulsory education system.
The plan, worked out by education minister Takeo Kawamura and viewed Saturday by Kyodo News, would provide criteria on the minimum amount of knowledge that students nationwide would have to acquire and calls for teachers to apply for license renewals every 10 years, in place of the current teaching license that is valid until retirement.
Prospective teachers would have to complete a graduate program for teaching similar to law school to be qualified, rather than the current method of licensing those who obtain a certain number of credits at undergraduate schools.