National Jul 18, 2017
Saitama teacher tells fourth-grader to jump out window after classroom disturbance
Board of education in city of Tokorozawa considers disciplinary action after homeroom teacher admits to comments, apologizes
National Mar 13, 2017
Pressure continues to mount on Moritomo Gakuen chief
by Eric Johnston
Pressure on Yasunori Kagoike, head of scandal-plagued Moritomo Gakuen, in the Diet and in Osaka Prefecture showed no sign of abating Monday even though he withdrew his application to open a new elementary school and indicated last week he would resign. With questions about why ...
National Sep 29, 2016
Japan's schools embracing tablets but inadequate support and security remain concerns
In a teaching tool reboot, tablet computers are increasingly appearing in classrooms. However, some teachers find they have little support when things go wrong and the devices open students to being hacked. This school year, the Osaka Municipal Government introduced tablets at all public elementary ...
Reference | FYI Sep 5, 2016
English heads for elementary school in 2020 but hurdles abound
by Mizuho Aoki
The Japanese school system's English-teaching regimen will undergo a major revamp in the near future as the government tries to nurture more worldly talent in an age of globalization. The biggest transformation is expected in public elementary schools, where English will be taught as a ...
National / Crime & Legal | ANALYSIS Nov 11, 2015
Arrest of student for drug possession shines light on narcotics use among the young
by Masaaki Kameda
A high school student held on suspicion of drug possession leads an expert to call for better anti-drug education in schools.
National Jul 4, 2014
Lower school age and offer free preschool, education panel says
by Masaaki Kameda
Japan should offer free education for children as young as 3 years old and reduce the age at which all children must start school, from 6 to 5, a government panel on education reform advised Thursday. It recommended that free preschool education be rolled out ...
National Apr 22, 2014
2.24 million take achievement exams at elementary, junior high schools
About 2.24 million elementary school sixth-graders and third-year junior high school students took the national achievement examination Tuesday. When the results are known around August, the education ministry will allow them to be made available on a school-by-school and municipality-by-municipality basis for the first time ...
National Jan 22, 2014
Schools hit by norovirus reopen
Fourteen elementary schools in Hamamatsu reopened Wednesday morning, about a week after they were closed because some 1,000 children and teachers developed symptoms of food poisoning from norovirus-tainted bread. The board of education in the Shizuoka Prefecture city announced at noon that one school still ...
National Dec 13, 2013
English education set to get serious
by Atsushi Kodera and Masaaki Kameda
Junior high school English teachers should conduct classes exclusively in English and be periodically tested on their skills, and formal English instruction should start in the fifth grade from 2020 under education reforms.
National Oct 23, 2013
Required English from third grade eyed
by Reiji Yoshida
The education ministry is considering moving up the starting year of obligatory English-language education in elementary schools to the third grade from the current fifth grade by around 2020.
Editorials Jul 3, 2013
Worst nightmare for parents
The knife attack in Tokyo's Nerima Ward underscores the difficulty in preventing the realization of parents' worst nightmare when they let their kids walk to school.
National Jun 6, 2013
Kitakyushu grade schools still teaching Korean culture
by Keisuke Sunami
Teacher Pak Kang Su's Korean culture classes are popular among students at Wakamatsu Chuo Elementary School in Kitakyushu. "I want kids to make judgments using their sensitivity, even if Japan's relations with South Korea and North Korea deteriorate," Pak, 49, said. He is one of three ...