c. The lssuance and Enforcement of Various Regulations

The 1880 Education Order did not offer very detailed guidelines for local educational administration, and moreover, the central government tended to avoid issuing more precise regulations. Rather it preferred that prefectural and local governments would develop regulations appropriate to their local situations. Nevertheless, the central government did take some initiative. In January, 1881, the Department of Education issued Standards for Designating the Districts for true Establishment of Elementary Schools and the Number of Elementary Schools to Be Established in the Districts as well as Standards for Drafting Prefectural Regulations to Urge School Attendance. Then in May of that year, it issued Guidelines for the Course of Study for Elementary Schools (Shogakko Kyosoku Koryo), which the prefectures were encouraged to alter according to their special needs. The Guidelines divided elementary education into a three-year primary course, a three-year intermediate course, and a two-year higher course, and suggested possible subjects and their contents. In addition, the January, 1881 Regulations for Awarding Elementary School Teacher Licenses, Regulations for Examining the Conduct of School Teachers, and an Ethical Guide for Elementary School Teachers were issued in that same year. Each prefecture, then, compiled various regulations based upon the standards set up by the Department of Education and saw to enforcement within their respective areas of jurisdiction. In this sense, it can be said that the immediate source of education was the prefecture. However, in actual fact most prefectures strictly followed the Department of Education's suggestions, and consequently, education throughout the nation became quite standardized. In a similar manner, the government's guidelines for the courses of study for other educational institutions (such as the middle schools, the normal schools and various vocational schools) were issued and put in force between 1881 and 1884. Thus the Department of Education set up a series of regulations during the period of the 1880 Education Order which operated to standardize all types of educational institutions thereby providing a foundation for the future development of the national system of schools.

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