2 The Consolidation of the Six-Three Compulsory Education System

The fact that the six-three compulsory education system was instituted without adequate facilities teachers and so on elicited calls for revision virtually from the onset of the program. Having weathered the first few years, however, by the end of the Occupation period, the format of the six-three program was generally accepted and attention turned toward equipping the system with the necessary material support. Since the enactment of the Law concerning the National Treasury's Share of Local Public School Construction, which was promulgated on August 27, 1953, and put in force on that day, the government took measures to assure the school system of the national revenue it sorely needed. (This Law was later renamed the Law concerning the National Treasury's Share of Reconstruction of Calamity-damaged Local Public Schools on April 25, 1958.) Faced with the sudden influx of pupils as a result of the baby boom, a five-year plan was drawn up in 1959 authorizing a steady expansion and development of school facilities. Second and third five-year plans followed suit, ensuring both the quantitative and qualitative development of school facilities.

Teachers' salaries, which were dependent on the fluctuations of local financing during the Occupation period, were somewhat stabilized with the enactment of the 1952 Law concerning the National Treasury's Share of Compulsory Education Expenses, which was promulgated on August 8, 1952, and put in force on April 1, 1953. In this Law it was specified that one half of the salary of each teacher within the compulsory education system would be paid by the National Treasury. As the need for more and more teachers grew with the influx of the baby boom into the schools, the demand arose for a regulation on the number of children that could be grouped under one teacher. The Law concerning the Standard for the Organization of Classes and for the Fixed Number of Educational Personnel in Local Public Compulsory Schools was promulgated on May 1, 1958, and put in force on that day. The first five-year plan to alleviate the overcrowded classes was based on this Law. The subsequent second and third five-year plans made further adjustments in the class-size of the schools and the organization of the teaching staff; in these later plans special emphasis was placed on dismantling the remaining one-teacher schools and improving the schools located in remote places or where there existed difficult educational circumstances.

The government began to subsidize teaching materials and classroom equipment in 1953 based on the 1952 Law concerning the National Treasury's Share of Compulsory Education Expenses. The Law for the Promotion of Science Education and the School Library Law, both of which were promulgated on August 8, 1953, and put in force on April 1, 1954, paved the way for the acquisition of materials related to science education, books for the school libraries, and other materials. In August, 1967, these' earlier actions were supplemented by the establishment of standards for the provision of teaching materials and equipment and commencement of a ten-year plan for the provision of teaching materials and equipment to compulsory schools. To support this program, a fund totaling160 billion yen, half of which was to come from the National Treasury, was authorized as of the 1967 school year.

A number of measures were also taken to insure the equality of educational opportunity. The' first area for this purpose was a program of financial assistance to make attendance at compulsory schools possible for children who otherwise lacked the means to do so. Such measures date back to 1928, as first specified in instructions (kunrei) issued in October of that year by the Ministry of Education, and after the war these were incorporated into the 1946 Livelihood Protection Law, Later, the 1950 Livelihood Protection Law, which was promulgated on May 4, 1950, and put in force on that day, provided for assistance to educational expenses of the needy households separately from assistance to their daily life expenses; in these educational expenses were included expenses for textbooks, school, supplies, school clothing, school transportation and school lunches. In 1956, by the Law concerning National Subsidy for the Free Distribution of Textbooks to Elementary School Children Having Financial Difficulties and a revision of the School Lunch Law, both of which were promulgated on March 30, 1956, and put in force on April 1 of that year, the assistance was extended to cover those borderline cases who had difficulties in paying for textbooks or school lunches. Somewhat later, expenses for school supplies, school transportation, and school excursions also were brought under this program by revisions of the former Law.

A second area was to cope with handicaps that stemming from regional conditions rather than specific need on the part of the pupil or his family. The Law for the Promotion of Education in Isolated Areas, which was promulgated on June 1, 1954, and put in force on that day, provided for a step-by-step development of these areas through the cooperation of the government and local public bodies. As a result of this program, as well as special assistance rendered to isolated areas by other laws, improvements have been made across the educational spectrum in the facilities, equipment, teaching materials, number of teachers allowances, transportation, lunch, and health programs of these schools.

A third area relates to education for mentally and physically handicapped children. AS a result of the enforcement of the School Education Law in April, 1947, schools for the blind, schools for the deaf, and schools for the handicapped other than the blind and deaf had been integrated into the regular school system, making attendance through the lower secondary division of these schools compulsory, but the actual implementation of these measures was largely postponed until the post-Occupation period: While compulsory attendance at the elementary division of schools for the blind and schools for the deaf was implemented in 1948, compulsory attendance at the lower secondary division of these schools was postponed until 1954; and compulsory attendance at the elementary and lower secondary divisions of schools for the handicapped other than the blind and deaf is yet to be implemented as of 1971. The Law far the Encouragement of Attendance at Schools for the Blind, Schools for the Deaf, and Schools for the Handicapped Other than the Blind and Deaf was promulgated on June 1, 1954, and put in force on that day. The intent of this legislation was to reduce the financial burden incumbent on parents who sent their handicapped children to special schools and to increase the percentage of handicapped children attending such schools. The Law concerning Special Measures for the Construction of Local Public Schools for the Handicapped Other than the Blind and Deaf was promulgated on June 14, 1956, and put in force on that day, to promote the establishment of schools for the handicapped other than the blind and deaf. Compulsory attendance at these schools was waived, but governmental subsidies for facilities, staff salaries, teaching materials, and such were to be provided in the same manner as 'for schools within the compulsory school system.