PART II Recent Trends and Developments in Government Policies in Education, Science and Culture
Chapter 3. Enhancing Primary and Secondary Education
Section 8. Developing Better Textbooks
3. Free Supply of Compulsory Education Textbooks
The system for free supply of compulsory education textbooks has been in force since fiscal 1963. It was introduced to achieve fuller realization of the spirit of Article 26 of the Constitution, which states that "compulsory education shall be free." In accordance with the people's wishes, textbooks are supplied to all public and private compulsory education schools at the expense of the national treasury. The budget for the free supply of textbooks in fiscal 1994 was 43.4 billion yen. A total of 136.15 million textbooks were supplied to approximately 12.98 million schoolchildren.
