Society

Japan to introduce new high school compulsory subjects

Feb 15 (Japan Times) - The education ministry released a draft Wednesday of revised curriculum guidelines for high schools, including the introduction of comprehensive history and public affairs as new compulsory subjects.

Comprehensive history will cover the modern and contemporary history of both Japan and the rest of the world. In public affairs, students will learn, among others, issues related to popular sovereignty. In 2016 the minimum voting age was lowered from 20 to 18.

In addition, the new guidelines will make it compulsory for high school students to take comprehensive geography, which will cover contemporary geographical issues, including those related to the environment and disaster prevention.

The ministry will also introduce as an optional subject risÅ« tankyÅ«, in which students independently choose themes involved with the fields of mathematics and science for research.

Computer-related subjects such as information security will be introduced, and programming education will be compulsory through elementary, junior high and high school.

English will be reorganized into two categories, with one of them aimed at comprehensively nurturing studentsâ€™ listening, reading, speaking and writing skills, and the other focusing on strengthening their speaking and writing abilities.

The number of English words students will learn at elementary through high school will increase to about 4,000-5,000 from some 3,000 at present. This is in addition to the adoption of English as an official subject for elementary school fifth- and sixth-graders under the new primary education curriculum guidelines.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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