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PART Recent Trends and Developments in Government Policies in Education, Science and Culture

Arm analysis of recent trends in children's problem behaviors and their maladjustment to school life reveals that, while the number of cases of bullying and school violence has been decreasing, there are a growing number of elementary and lower secondary school children who refuse to attend school, and there are still a large number of students who drop out from upper secondary school. How to deal with the problem of young people's maladjustment to school life has become one of the important issues in the education sector.

Efforts in student guidance should not be limited to passive measures for dealing with children's maladjustment to school life and their problem behaviors. Attempts should be made to improve and enrich student guidance activities on the basis of a positive point of view toward the development of students who are active and independent. Based on this point of view, the Ministry is tackling the problem of children's refusal to attend school, and is also committed to the reexamination of the strict rules of many schools on students' appearance and conduct.

In order to help dooms enrich their career guidance services so that they may make these services more relevant to the abilities, aptitudes and interest of individuals, the Ministry has improved the provisions related to career guidance in the revised Course of Study, and has also improved and enriched the substance of various meetings of educators on career guidance. It has also been conducting relevant studies related to career guidance, through designating a number of pilot schools for the conduct of such studies.

Further, in order to contribute to reducing the excessive attendance of children at academic juku (private cram schools), the Ministry has been making efforts to help improve the quality of test questions used in entrance examinations for national and private lower and upper secondary schools.