The education ministry has screened and approved 148 new textbooks for use in primary schools, most of which will be introduced to classrooms in fiscal 2011.
The textbooks are notably thicker than those that were approved in the last round of screening. When approving books for use from fiscal 2002, the ministry's catchphrase was "education with latitude." The average number of pages has increased 42.8 percent. In the case of mathematics and science, books' length has increased 67.0 percent and 67.3 percent, respectively.
The adoption of the dense textbooks underlines the ministry's desire to overcome criticism that Japanese pupils' academic ability has declined under the policy of "education with latitude," which was supposed to be the antithesis of cram-style education.