Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > JAPANESE GOVERMENT POLICICIES IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CULTURE 1994 > PART II Chapter 3 Section 11 1

In principle, the cost of improving school facilities is borne by the establishing body. Part of the cost of necessary improvements, however, is subsidized by the national treasury under various laws, such as the Law Concerning the National Treasury's Share of Compulsory School Constitution. The purpose of these subsidies is to maintain and improve educational standards and ensure equality of educational opportunity in public schools. Among other things, they cover half the expenditure for construction or expansion of elementary and lower secondary school buildings and gymnasiums and one-third the expenditure for renovation.

In the past, efforts to improve public school facilities focused primarily on quantitative development in order to overcome classroom shortages and other problems. In fiscal 1993 the average floor space of school buildings per schoolchild was 9.9 square meters, an increase of approximately 160% in the 20 years since 1973, when the average was 6.1 square meters ( Figure II.3.4). Many concrete buildings built from the late 1950s onward are aging, however, and will soon need to be rebuilt or renovated. This task will require a systematic approach to facility development.

In addition to quantitative development, the improvement of public school facilities requires efforts to enhance facilities qualitatively. It is necessary to create facilities that are capable of accommodating diversified educational content and methods designed to maximize the potential of individual schoolchildren. Facilities must also provide a spacious and pleasant environment for learning and school life, and it must be possible to use them to provide active support for a variety of learning activities in the community. To achieve these and other goals, the central government has established or expanded a variety of subsidy programs in recent years ( Table II.3.7).

A total of 249.7 billion yen was allocated for this purpose in the fiscal 1994 budget. Measures include provision for work required under the development plans of municipalities. In addition, the construction standards for elementary and lower secondary schools (standard design) have been revised for the first time in about 30 years, and the unit cost per square meter, on which subsidies are based, has been substantially raised. Expansion of the subsidy program includes the addition of air conditioning in special classrooms to the list of items eligible for subsidies.