Panel calls for smaller class sizes

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A committee of the education ministry's Central Council for Education has proposed reducing the maximum number of students per class at public primary and middle schools from 40 to 35.

The council's Elementary and Lower Secondary Education Committee also proposed raising the portion of state funding for teacher salaries from the current one-third to one-half.

The committee does not specify an exact maximum number of students per class in the proposal, but sources said it would be 35 for primary and middle schools and 30 for the early grades of primary school.

More than 40,000 additional teachers would likely be needed if the class size is reduced to 35, requiring another 300 billion yen annually in labor costs.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry will come up with an annual plan by August to clarify details of the proposal. Securing stable financial resources for the measures is expected to be the major task.

The maximum number of students per class set by law is a major factor in deciding the number of teachers allocated at a public school. For example, if the maximum number is set at 40 and a school has 41 students in one year, the school will have to divide the class into two--one with 21 students and another with 20. As a result, two teachers will be allocated to the school.

After the end of World War II, the maximum class size was reduced from 50 to 45. It was set at 40 for the 1980 academic year, and has been unchanged ever since.

The proposal, made Monday, states there are too many students in one class to improve declining academic abilities, to teach a new curriculum containing more materials than before, or to tackle the "first-grade problem" in primary school, a syndrome in which some children show signs of maladjustment to school life.