This is a selected presentation topic of M. Ed. program in IER, DU. We presented it as a group work. this group work are jointly published with Mahathir and Raihan. Other group Members are helping us. We try to present running scenario of education system of Japan.

1. Education System of
Japan
A SHORT DETAIL OF THE SYSTEM

2. NIGYAKA GROUP
Group Members
• Mahathir Mohammad- 19598
• Muhammad Ferdaus- 19618
• Md. Mahmudul Hasan- 19619
• Zobayer Ahmed- 19584
• Rezwan Habib Rafsan-15178
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3. Some facts of the Country
• Japan’s official name is Nippon-koku which literally means State of Japan
• Japan’s area is 337,961.32 square km.
• Japan’s population is 127 million
• Literacy rate of Japan is 99 percent
• Japan’s HDI is 0.909, positioning at 19th of 189 countries
• Japan’s GDP is 39,286$ and about 0.2% people live under poverty line with
only 1.90 $ a day
• Source of income is services, industries and agriculture
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4. Education Structure and System
• Japan’s current education system is deregulated and decentralized but it was not
always like that
• In the 19th century, it was centralized and it did not follow western education system.
In 1872, first modern education law was enforced on Japan
• In 1948, Board of Education law provided that education is a matter which should be
dealt by local government.
• But it was forced by military dictates and it did not ensure democracy. So, in 1956, the
revision was made and it was again made centralized
• In response of growing pressure for reform, the review to reform was again made in
1984 which lead to decentralized and deregulated education system and it is followed
now in Japan
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5. Major Body of Education In Japan
• The education system of Japan is controlled by MEXT which stands for Ministry
of Education, culture, sports, science and technology
• The organization created some basic acts on education. The major act was act
no.120 which was declared on December 22, 2006.
• The organization provided some aims and principles for education in forms of
articles. Two articles are given below:
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6. Major Body of Education ( Continued)
• Article 1:
• Aims: Education must be provided with the aim of fully developing individual
character, as we endeavor to cultivate a people that is sound in mind and body
and imbued with the qualities that are necessary in the people who make up a
peaceful and democratic nation and society
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7. Major Body of Education (Continued )
• Article 3:
• A society must be brought into being in which the people can continue to learn
throughout their lives.
• The organization also believes in equal opportunity in education and have the
concept of lifelong education
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8. Objectives of Education in Japan
• To realize the aforementioned aims
• Having students acquire wide-ranging knowledge
• Developing industrial abilities, cultivating creativity
• Fostering the values of respect for justice, prosperity
• Fostering values of respecting life, learning about nature
• Fostering the value of respect for tradition, culture and love of the country
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9. Education System in Japan
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10. Education System of Japan
• School cycles are mainly five. They are:
• Yochien ( Nursery) 3-6
• Shogakko ( Elementary) 6-12
• Chugakko (Middle) 12 to 15
• Koko (High ) 15 to 18
• Daigaku ( University) 15 to 18
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11. Education in Japan
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12. Pre-Primary Education
• Japan’s education system heavily emphasizes on moral and ethical education. All the
subjects are taught but moral is a separate complete subject with textbook and
allocated time
• The main focus of the moral education is not to teach what they should or should
not do and focus on moral dilemma , how students should do in a given situation
• Predominantly staffed by young female junior college graduates and supervised by
the Ministry of Education, but are not part of the official education system.
• A well-developed system of government supervised day-care centers (hoikuen) is
supervised by the Ministry of Labor.
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13. Elementary School
• All children enter first grade at age six.
• Public elementary education is free.
• Elementary school classes are large at about thirty-one students per class on
average but higher numbers are permitted.
• Students are usually organized into small work groups, which have both
academic and disciplinary functions.
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14. Elementary School( Continued)
• The ministry’s course of study is composed of a wide variety of subjects, both
academic and nonacademic, including moral education and special activities.
• The standard academic curriculum include Japanese language, social studies,
arithmetic, and science. Nonacademic subjects taught include art and
handicrafts, music, physical education, and moral education.
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15. Junior High School
• Instruction in junior high schools tends to rely on the lecture method.
• Classes are large, with thirty-eight students per
• Class on average.
• The teacher rather than the students, moves to a new room for each fifty or forty-
five minute period.
• The school year begins in April and classes are held from Monday to either
Friday or Saturday, depending on the school.
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16. Universities
At the top of the higher education structure, these institutions provide- 4 years training
leading to bachelors degree- 6 years programs leading to a professional degree.
Two types of public 4 year colleges
- the 86 national universities (including the open universities)
- 95 local public universities which are founded by prefectures and municipalities
The 597 remaining 4 year colleges in 2010 were private
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17. Unique Characters of Education System
• School is compulsory until 15 years of age, however, 99 percent of middle school
graduates enroll in high school to continue their studies
• The students enrolled do not pay registration of school material fees. Families
pay secondary costs as meals and school trips
• It is less taboo to enroll in institutes specializing in agriculture, industrial and
technical training
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18. Unique characters of Education System
(Continued)
• Most of students go voluntarily or involuntarily to Juko (cram school) to do good
in specific subjects like English. Those who do not attend cram schools, go for
other activities like sports
• Most of the schools do not have janitors. Students are divided into teams to
tackle all manners to keep school clean
• Every year, huge festivals are made and controlled by the kids. They prepare for
the sports festivals, cultural festivals etc.
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19. Unique Characters of Education System( Continued)
• Manners before Knowledge: They do not take exam until they reach grade four.
They just give small exam. It is believed that first 3 years of school is not to
judge the child’s knowledge of learning.
• All the school students are provided with healthy, balanced foods and
standardized meals which are made in the school to ensure healthy diet.
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20. Students Cleaning Their Classroom….
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21. Dancing Festivals
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22. Children enjoying the classes
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23. Fault of Education
• Testing- specifically entrance exams is it’s own world in Japan. Students wishing
to move into Junior High Schools, high schools or universities must pass
grueling entrance exam, so grueling that it has been dabbed exam hell. These
tests take an endless number of sleepless nights to study for, often sitting in cram
schools.
• Selection requirements are often so difficult that only about 56 percent of the
students pass on their first try. Those who fail become Ronin( Samurai without a
master) and must study for an entire year on their own in order to try for the
next year.
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24. Grueling entrance exams
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25. Success stories
Japan is one of the most compelling success stories in education. It’s
strong commitment to education fueled rapid economic growth in
the post war period and thanks to high quality human capital, it is
one of the key players in the production of high technology, high
value added products.
By 1980s, Japan could declare that it had caught up with the most
advanced industrialized nations, both economically and with
regards to it’s educational system.
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26. Success Stories
• The law on education was revised in 2006 and much has
changed from 1947. Life expectancy have risen from 50 to 79
for men and for women, it has increased from 54 to 85 years.
High school attendance has grown from 43 percent to 98
percent and University from 10 percent to 49 percent. A key to
success in education has been the traditional belief that all
children can be achieved.
• Students actually feel happy while they are in school( About
85 to 90 percent of them)
• All the schools follow some standardized, balanced and
healthy foods which are made in the school.
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27. Success Stories
• The attendance rate is very high, about 99 percent in
primary schools. They do not usually skip classes or
come late in the school
• Pre-primary education is the utmost importance of
Japan. About 99 percent of all Japanese children attend
some type of pre-primary education
• Japanese students almost never repeat their grades in
primary, lower secondary and secondary schools.
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28. Scopes of Improvement in Our System
• We can take a lot of knowledge from the system of Japan to improve our own
educational system. For example:
• We can ensure that moral education is a major key subject for the children to
learn with different text books and curriculum so that moral values are taught
properly
• We can try to give healthy and balanced foods to the children in order to ensure
their healthy diet.
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29. Scopes of improvement in our system( Continued)
• We can encourage the students to join in many after school
activities to ensure happiness, ensure engagement in schools
and to ensure proper learning.
• Like Japan, we can encourage to send them to non-formal
activities, trainings and so on to teach them about activities
based on hand.
• We can, like Japan, reduce the pressure of the children by
not letting them give examination up to 4th grade to create
morality and thus can help them. This may create massive
change in our educational system.
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30. Thank You……… (Arigatou Gozaimasu)
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