Japan Press Weekly

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2026 April 1 - 7 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Revised law reducing class size to 35 students at public junior high schools enacted

A bill to reduce the maximum number of students per class at public junior high schools to 35 from the current 40 with the revision of the relevant law was approved and enacted at the House of Councillors plenary meeting on March 31 with the support of the ruling and opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party.

Under the revised Law Concerning Class-size and the Standard of Fixed Number of Educational Personnel in Public Compulsory Education Schools, the class size for the first grade will be reduced to 35 in fiscal 2026 and smaller class sizes for all grades will be established by the end of fiscal 2028.

Earlier on the day at an Upper House education committee meeting, Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Kira Yoshiko, in support of the bill, said, “It’s a big step forward toward realizing a small class size standard.” She demanded that the government take steps to lower the class size limit further and increase the number of teachers to achieve this.