(3)Actual Conditions within the Youth Schools

With the introduction of the compulsory system, there was a marked increase in the number of youth schools (See Table 5-1.). Many corporations established youth schools for their own staff in locations close to the youths' place of work, thus making a great contribution to the education of the increasingly large population of urban workers. In 1938 there were 1,205 private youth schools (including branch schools) with an enrollment of 283,458 students. These figures rose respectively to 2,212 schools and 481,681 students in 1940 and by 1942 there were 731,212 students enrolled in 3,243 private youth schools.

These schools, however, suffered considerably from the shortages created by the war effort. Many of the schools did not have their own equipment and facilities but rather utilized those of elementary schools (later National Schools). Also there was an insufficient number of full time teachers and training fell far below the expected level.

It had been planned that the general course at youth schools would be discontinued in 1944, when compulsory attendance in the higher course of National Schools was put into effect. But due to the wartime situation, compulsory attendance in the National School's higher course was postponed, and thus the youth schoo1s continued to offer their general course. Moreover, the curriculum in the youth schools set up by corporations at their munitions factories was revised and hours for the general subject were curtailed to allot more time for productive work in these factories which was assigned to students for vocational training; indeed many classes came to be conducted in the actual production centers during the hours the factories were operating. Thus with the intensification of the war the educational content of the youth schools tended to decline.

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