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Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > JAPANESE GOVERMENT POLICICIES IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CULTURE 1994 > PART I Chapter 2 Section 1 1

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PART I New Directions in School Education
Chapter 2. The Aims of the Five-Day School Week
Section 1. Basic Thinking Behind the Five-Day School Week
1. Today' Educational Issues and the Five-Day School Week


The approach of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture to the implementation of the five-day school week is based on the view that this change should be considered from the perspectives of whether the system will enhance character formation and whether it will provide a means of resolving problems affecting education today.

A number of specific issues must be taken into account. First, in recent years various problems have been noted in relation to character formation in Japanese children, including the inadequacy of children' experience of activities in a natural environment and in society, the need for enriching moral education, the lack of opportunities for socialization as a result of the trends toward the nuclear family and fewer children per family, and the harmful effects of excessive juku attendance. To find solutions to these problems, we need to rethink the roles of schools, families, and communities from the fundamental perspective of education as a process of character formation that is achieved through schools, families, and communities. Second, to rear children with the ability to adapt and live independently in the face of various changes, such as internationalization, the shift to an information-oriented society, and the advent of an era of lifelong learning, it is essential to promote education based on the perspectives of a new concept of scholastic ability emphasizing willingness to learn independently and the ability to think, judge, and express oneself.

The introduction of the five-day school week must be seen as an opportunity to rethink education as a whole in the contexts of schools, families, and communities and from the viewpoints of promoting healthy character formation and education based on a new concept of scholastic ability.


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