Japanese
Education and Literacy
As
of May 1995 approximately 23.7 million people were receiving education in Japan
from the kindergarten to the university level. This figure includes
students attending so-called miscellaneous schools, which primarily provide
vocational and practical training. About 12.9 million were receiving
compulsory education at elementary schools (six years starting at the age of
six) and junior high schools (three years).
Of the rest, 1,808,432 were
attending kindergartens, 4,724,945 senior high schools (three years), 2,546,649
universities (four years) and graduate schools.
The
school attendance rate for the nine years of compulsory education 99.99%.
In 1979 education of mentally and physically handicapped and sickly children
also became compulsory. As a result, children until then exempt from or
allowed to delay their schooling, such as bedridden children, were registered at
schools and began receiving education at their homes from visiting teachers.
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The
rate of advancement from compulsory education to senior high schools was 96.7%
in 1995. Meanwhile, the rate of advancement to universities and junior
colleges reached 45.5%.
Japan's
education system played a central part in enabling the country to meet the
challenges presented by the need to quickly absorb Western ideas, science and
technology, and it was also a key part in Japan's recovery and rapid economic
growth in the decades following the end of World War II.
After
WWII, the Fundamental Law on Education and the School Education law were enacted
in 1947 under the direction of the Occupation forces. The latter law
defined the system that is still in use today: six years of elementary school,
three years of junior high school, three years of high school, two or four years
of university. Elementary and junior high school attendance is compulsory.
Education
prior to elementary school is provided at kindergartens and day-care
centers. Public and private day-care centers will take children from under
age one on up to 5 years old. The programs for those children ages 3-5
resembles those at kindergartens.
The educational approach at
kindergartens various greatly from unstructured environments that emphasize play
to highly structured environments that are focused on having the child pass the
entrance exam at a private elementary school.
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Information
provided by the Japanese Embassy
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