Japan Press Weekly

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2015 January 7 - 13 [POLITICS]

Gov’t rejects finance ministry’s request to increase class size

The government on January 11 decided to dismiss a Finance Ministry’s proposal for the next fiscal year that class sizes in public elementary schools be increased to 40 from the current 35.

The growing public opposition and movement against the ministry’s proposal pushed the government to make this decision.

In the 2015 budget request, the Finance Ministry called for the return of the upper limit of pupils in elementary school classes to the previous 40 by claiming without evidence that the 35-pupil class size limit has no effect on students’ academic improvement. The ministry has proclaimed that classes of 40 pupils will help decrease the number of elementary school teachers nationwide by 4,000, allowing a cut in the educational budget by 8.6 billion yen.

Following the ministry’s proposal, parents and teachers launched a protest. Citing the global move toward smaller classroom sizes, they pointed out that promotion of smaller classes is necessary to lessen teacher’s workload. The Education Ministry also objected to the finance ministry proposal.

Japanese Communist Party parliamentarians on January 7 made a representation to the two ministries, demanding the introduction of smaller classes in public elementary schools.

Past related articles:
> Teachers protest ministry proposal to increase class size [November 14, 2014]
> Finance ministry proposes ending promotion of small class sizes for public schools [October 26, 2014]