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Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > Japanese Government Policies in Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology 2001 >Introduction Section2.3

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Educational Reform for the 21st Century
AN INTRODUCTION   POSTWAR EDUCATIONAL REFORM IN RETROSPECT
Section 2:   Advancement of the Economy and Society, and Educational Reform
3   A Quarter of a Century since Postwar Educational Reform



(1) Comprehensive Review of the Education System

A quarter of a century after educational reform was instituted immediately following the end of the Second World War, Japanese society underwent a complete transfiguration amid high economic growth, as exemplified by the concentration of people in large cities and a rise in the income level.

  Equal opportunities for education introduced under postwar educational reform brought about a quantitative expansion of education, such as a sharp rise in the percentage of students going on to upper secondary schools and further to universities. On the other hand, however, the quantitative expansion gave rise to other issues, including the enhancement of the quality of education and the diversification of education.

  The situation thus demanded a "comprehensive review" of the education system that could flexibly respond to these societal changes.

(2) 46 Report

In June 1971 (the 46th year of the Showa era), the Central Council for Education submitted a recommendation report on Basic Measures for the Comprehensive Expansion and Improvement of Future School Education, dealing with issues relating to all levels of school education, from pre-school education to higher education.

  The recommendation report, which came to be called the 46 Report, put forth a variety of basic vision proposals for elementary and secondary education reform, such as the development and advanced implementation of the school system according to its stage of development, improvement of the curriculum according to the characteristics of schools, the maintenance and enhancement of quality levels of public education, the guarantee of equal opportunities for education, the active spread and improvement of kindergarten education and the active expansion and improvement of special education.

  Of the proposals made in the 46 Report, the advanced implementation of the school system according to the stage of development or the differentiation of higher education were not actually carried out. But other matters concerning the improvement of education quality were addressed in line with the report.


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