The government's Education Rebuilding Implementation Council will start discussing a plan this week to lower the compulsory school age from 6 to 5 as part of a review of the current school system, it has been learned.
The council, chaired by Waseda University President Kaoru Kamata, also will study a plan to create "compulsory education schools" that would integrate primary and middle school education.
In addition, the council is expected to discuss a plan in which local governments will be allowed to flexibly change the current 6-3-3 system-based on six years in primary school and three years each in middle and high schools-to a 4-4-4 system, for example, on the condition that coordination between primary, middle and high schools will be strengthened.
Under the current system, the compulsory period of education is nine years in total: six years in primary school and three years in middle school.
Source: NewsOnJapan
