The Democratic Party of Japan-led government will lower the maximum number of students per classroom at public elementary and junior high schools from 40, senior vice education minister Kan Suzuki said Thursday.

The reduction, the first since the 1980 academic year when it was lowered from 45 to the current 40, will be introduced in the 2011 academic year or later, according to Suzuki.

"It is necessary to introduce small group instructions to tackle complicated problems in the educational field," he said.