Japan can contribute proactively to the rest of the world, especially developing countries, in the field of education through stepped-up exchanges of students and teachers, a senior educator believes.
At home, Japan's creaky schooling system is under fire as a cause of its social problems. "This is not necessarily true. Our system still is effective and valid in many ways," insists Kenji Honma, president of Hokkaido University of Education, one of Japan's 11 state-run teachers colleges.
In an interview with The Japan Times, Honma stresses that Japan's math and science education is highly acclaimed by education experts abroad. More importantly, Japan's established practice of continuing education for working schoolteachers, organized by local boards of education, is a model for other countries, he adds.