Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > JAPANESE GOVERMENT POLICICIES IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CULTURE 1994 > PART II Chapter 3 Section 8 1

Textbooks are the principal teaching materials used in schools and thus play an important role in children's learning activities. Textbooks undergo the following processes before being supplied to schoolchildren.

First, textbooks are written and edited by private textbook publishers and are then submitted for authorization by the Minister of Education, Science and Culture. Through this process they are authorized for use as school textbooks. Authorized textbooks are then examined by boards of education, which are the establishing authorities for schools (or by principals in the case of national and private schools). The boards adopt the textbooks that are most suitable for their particular regions and schools. The textbooks adopted are supplied to schools by distributors throughout Japan for use in the new school year. In fiscal 1994, 177.96 million copies of 1,479 titles were published and distributed.