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CHAPTER SUPPLY OF TEACHERS ANDPROVISION OF SCHOOL FACILITIES

Since World War , great efforts have been made to expand facilities for public elementary and lower secondary schools, in response to the rehabilitation of war damage and to the extension of the compulsory education term from six to nine years. the floor space per pupil in public elementary and lower and upper secondary school buildings except for gymnasiums and dormitories, gradually increased until around 1953.

Figure 15. Floor Space Per Pupil in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, 1949-1963

For a while after 1953, the increase in floor space per pupil in elementary and lower and upper secondary school buildings was halted because of the so-called post-war "baby boom." However, the floor space per pupil again began to increase after 1958 in primary schools and after 1962 in lower secondary schools.

As of 1963, the floor space per pupil in elementary schools was 4.43 square meters, while that in lower secondary schools was 4.00 square meters and in upper secondary schools 5.03 square meters.

In 1964, the standard for school buildings of compulsory schools was revised to require that the floor space be calculated on the basis of the number of classes of the school, instead of by the previous method of calculation based on the number of pupils, and that the calculation standards for special classrooms be improved.

On the basis of the revised standards, a new five-year plan was launched in 1964. Replacing tlae previous plan, the new plan is intended for there pair and reconstruction of dangerous and obsolete school buildings and for the ample provision of school buildings in accordance with school consolidation, with special emphasis on the improvement and extension of special classrooms and gymnasiums in elementary and lower secondary school and the establishment of special schools and kindergartens.

The establishment of facilities for higher education lags behind the measures taken for primary and secondary education. While a five-year construction plan for higher institutions which was initiated in 1961 is now under way, the floor space is still very small, even if calculated according to the current standard which corresponds to 70 per cent of the pre-war standard. In the future, it is urgent that steps be taken for raising the standard, for meeting the rapid increase in applicants to universities and colleges foreseen in and after 1966, for promoting the construction of reinforced concrete buildings to replace wooden ones, and for providing the facilities for student welfare.

The shortage of school buildings and other facilities in private schools is more keenly felt, and their facilities are much inferior to those of national and public schools. As of the 1963 school year, for example, the floor space per student in private university buildings was only 4.36 square meters as compared with 19.54 square meters for a national university and 15.68 square meters for a public prefectural or municipal university. The Association for the Promotion of Private Schools, which has been established as a special juridical body in accordance with the Law on the Association for the Promotion of Private schools is operated through national grant of 12.1 billion yen in the 1964 national budget, in addition to a loan of about 10 billion yen from the National Financial Investment Fund. It makes loans mainly for the establishment and expansion of facilities and equipment of private schools.

In addition to the steps taken for the establishment of private school buildings and other facilities under the ten-year plan started in 1960, efforts have so far been made for the expansion of school facilities in order to cope with the increasing enrollment in science and technology courses of universities and the sharp increase of entrants to upper secondary schools.

Despite these measures, it is felt that there is great need for additional funds for the expansion of university facilities to meet the immense increase foreseen in the number of university applicants, as well as for the expansion of facilities of kindergartens and other miscellaneous schools.

The following brief account indicates the problems respecting some of the major countries. While the order of priorities may differ from country to country, it appears that practically all countries have faced the same problems of meeting the needs of expanding population, major increase in demand for secondary and higher education, and replacement of obsolete buildings and equipment.

In the United States of America, 25 per cent of the total number of classrooms in public elementary and secondary schools were replaced or newly constructed during the five years between 1957 and 1961. As of the 1962 school year, however, it is reported that,among the elementary and secondary schools throughout the country, there were still 12 per cent of the school buildings which had been built forty years before and 10 per cent of the total school buildings were of inflamable construction. To meet this situation, improvement measures have been promoted. There was a further need for about 120,O00 additional classrooms all over the country, of which about 60,000 classrooms were planned to be built in the course of the 1962 school year.

In the United Kingdom, great efforts have been made to establish and expand school facilities for special education as well as for primary and secondary education. One of the most urgent tasks of the country in higher education is to provide necessary facilities in accordance with increasing entrants to science and technology courses of universities and colleges.

The Federal Republic of Germany, where teaching in two shifts has not yet been completely liquidated, has still a great shortage of school facilities. In this country, priority has been given to the replacement of worn-out school buildings, the establishment of new schools in accordance with the extension of the length of compulsory schooling and the expansion of laboratories, practice rooms and physical education facilities. About10,000 classrooms for elementary and secondary schools are built annually. However, there is reportedly still a need to establish another 100,000 new ordinary classrooms, 100,000 special classrooms, and 26,000 gymnasiums for elementary and secondary schools between 1962 and 1967.

In France, the expansion of school facilities is needed in accordance with the establishment of the "observation stage" in secondary schools, for which 14,000 classrooms in 1961 and 10,000 classrooms in 1962 were respectively constructed for elementary and secondary schools. The necessary provision of facilities for higher education has been promoted since 1953 on the basis of the over-all plan for school facility investment worked out by the Committee on Facilities for School Education; and, in 1962, the first year of the Fourth Plan for Socio-economic Development, 2,650 million francs (equivalent to about 1% of the national income) were invested in educational facilities. In addition, efforts have been made for tlae establishment and expansion of refectories for students, special classrooms, dormitories of secondary schools, etc.

In the U.S.S.R., a program for construction of school facilities was launched in 1959 in accordance with the extension of the length of compulsory education. Large-scale construction of general education school and kindergartens has been promoted, with the use of standardized designs and prefabricated buildings. In 1962, 2,800 schools for 1,290,000 school children, in addition to kindergartens for 1,310,000 children, were newly constructed.