Five-Day School Week Begins at Public Schools

The period from the end of April to early May is called Golden Week
in Japan, because many statutory holidays are concentrated over this
span, and many companies simply choose to close down for the entire
period. It is also a time of pleasant spring weather, causing an exodus
from the cities to the countryside. Long traffic jams along the major
expressways have become an annual sight, as have scenes of families
attending May Day rallies with their children.

Not only grown-ups look forward to the holidays. Children who spend
their evenings at cram schools studying for entrance exams also welcome
this break from their studies..., which takes us to a new subject.

This April, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology designated a five-day school week for public schools, giving
children all their Saturdays and Sundays off. By means of this change,
the Ministry hopes to create a shift in educational emphasis from
"cramming in information" to "gaining real knowledge." Under the new
system, children will be expected to learn about 30% fewer "facts"
and concentrate more on "problem solving" and "life skills."
However, questions remain on whether the change will have the desired
effect.

Discussions were conducted at all levels of Japanese society before
this change. The scholastic level of Japanese students was, until
recently, believed to be among the highest in the world, but it appears
that this position is beginning to erode. Won't the new system result
in further erosion? On the other hand, many children face extreme
pressure to enter better and more famous schools, and to do this,
they are compelled to attend prep schools and cram schools in the
evenings in addition to their regular day schools. The degree of
competition and stress they face is not much different from what the
adults are up against.

The new system will trigger fundamental changes in society. What
will children do, now that Saturday is a holiday? How will they and
their parents react? According to a provisional survey, over half
the children surveyed replied that they simply slept late on Saturday
mornings. Many played video games. Before Saturday became a holiday,
many people claimed that the change would result in more conversation
between children and their parents. This, it seems, may have been
wishful thinking.

It is also important to note that the five-day school week applies
only to public schools. The Ministry recommends that private schools
"voluntarily" adopt the five-day school week, but their reaction has
been muted. Many public schools are offering extra-curricular classes
on Saturdays to ensure that their students don’t fall behind in the
"cram wars."

With the first Golden Week under the new system just ended, it would
be interesting to ask what the average Japanese family did with their time.

(Under the Japanese educational system, primary school education
provided for six years to children aged 7 through 12 and junior high
school education provided for three years to children aged 13 through
15 are compulsory. The three years of senior high school education
and four years of university education are not mandatory.)