Apparently under fire, a government advisory panel on education reform quickly stepped back from proposing a notion of "family education" in which it planned to urge mothers to breast-feed and parents to even sing lullabies while looking into their babies' eyes, its sources said Thursday.
The move apparently reflects growing criticism that the panel, headed by Nobel Prize winning chemist Ryoji Noyori, has encroached on private life. The proposal, also featuring a recommendation that parents switch off TVs during family meals and while breast-feeding, was to be announced Friday.
In January, the panel submitted a controversial report to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe featuring proposals to lengthen classroom hours and allow teachers to resort to corporal punishment, which is currently banned.