No. of primary, middle school students in Japan down 1 mil. in decade

Jul 19 (Kyodo) - The number of students in elementary and junior high schools in Japan fell by around 1 million from a decade earlier to about 9.56 million in 2020, according to a government survey, underscoring the rapid aging of the country's population.

By delving into the annual survey, Kyodo News found that 346 of the 1,892 municipalities in Japan had seen student numbers in the compulsory education system dwindle by more than 30 percent in the 10 years.

The number of elementary and junior high schools in the country stood at 29,793, down by about 3,000 due to an accelerated pace of closure and consolidation of such schools, especially in rural areas. ...continue reading

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