May 27, 2008The education minister has expressed support for an advisory panel's proposal that English should be made a compulsory subject for third graders and older students at elementary schools.
"I think it better for children to start learning (English) earlier. We'd like to quickly work on the issue," Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Kisaburo Tokai told a press conference following a regular Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.
The advisory council on educational reform has proposed that English should be made a compulsory subject for third-graders and older elementary school children as the ministry has just launched an experimental project toward the implementation of a new curriculum that includes making English compulsory for fifth-graders and older.
"Confusion should be avoided at schools. However, English is a means of communications that people should acquire. In some countries, schools teach English to students who are younger than third graders," Tokai said.
(Mainichi Japan) May 27, 2008
Photo: The 10-member panel headed by Keio University President Yuichiro Anzai called for making English a compulsory subject for third graders in elementary school at an early date and establishing about 5,000 model schools across the country to achieve the target. The proposals were contained in an initial report by the panel adopted at its session Monday and was presented to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda later in the day.
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