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

In fiscal 1992 the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture began to designate pilot schools to cooperate in research on equipment utilization. In fiscal 1994 a total of 66 schools were designated throughout Japan, and research is now being carried out at these schools regarding the utilization of computers and other educational equipment in schools.

High-quality software designed to reflect the characteristics of individual subject areas and meet the needs of children at different stages of development is essential for the utilization of computers in primary and secondary education. In the past the Ministry contracted prefectural boards of education to carry out related tasks, including corroborative research on the utilization of computers in school education and the model development of high-quality educational software. In fiscal 1994 this approach was superseded by a program to commission research and development teams that include information processing technicians and boards of education to develop education-oriented software. The aim of this program is to supply schools with educational software suited to a wide range of educational activities.

In addition, private-sector educational research organizations have been commissioned to conduct research and surveys concerning such aspects as approaches to the provision of information about educational software to schools. The Educational Software Information and Research Center collects and supplies high-quality educational software and is promoting the wider use of educational software. The Ministry has begun to study various aspects, including approaches to school education that take advantage of advances in information technology and the resulting development of multimedia technology.