The education ministry is considering launching a model project in fiscal 2026 to dispatch cram school lecturers and others with teaching qualifications to public schools as temporary teachers, in an effort to address the issue of teachers' excessive workload, ministry sources have said.

The ministry plans to include related expenses in its budget request for the fiscal year starting next April.

The project will send cram school lecturers and retired teachers, as well as corporate workers who hold teaching licenses but do not work in education, to public schools where vacancies have arisen due to teachers taking maternity, child care or sick leave.

The plan is to establish a system in which universities with teacher training courses register teaching personnel in advance for dispatch to prefectures and major cities.

The competition ratio for public school teacher exams has declined since peaking at 13.3 times in fiscal 2000, reaching a record low of 3.2 times in fiscal 2024. There are fewer cases of prospective teachers who failed the recruitment exam working as nonregular temporary teachers while preparing for the next exam, making it difficult for public schools to secure temporary teachers.

With more teachers taking maternity and child care leave, it is said that other teachers are facing the problem of long working hours to cover for their absence, as schools are sometimes unable to hire replacement teachers.

The ministry hopes to help public schools secure sufficient human resources and reduce the burden on teachers.

In launching the model project, the ministry plans to use as a reference the British supply teacher system, in which local governments and companies dispatch registered personnel to schools as substitute teachers.

By identifying issues through the model project, the ministry aims to create a system that enables public schools to quickly fill sudden teacher vacancies.