School systems are sometimes different from place to place. How many years the students go to school, what people call that type of school, what the students study there… and more. So in this article, let’s take a quick look at Japanese education and school systems!
What type of schools are there in Japan?
First of all, to educate children is the obligation of parents. It is enacted by the constitution, and all parents must send their children to elementary and junior high school.
There are several types of education facilities in Japan, but generally there are 5 types of education systems.
1, nursing school / kindergarten ( pre-school aged children)
2, elementary school ( 1-6 grades, aged 7 to 12)
3, junior high school ( 1-3 grades, aged 13 to 15)
*elementary and junior high schools are compulsory.
4, high school ( 1-3 grades, aged 16 to 18)
5, college / university / technical school
The relation among constitution, laws, and education
As I wrote above, it is parents’ obligation to send their child to elementary education, which means elementary and junior high school.
“All people shall have the right to receive an equal education corresponding to their ability, as provided by law. The people shall be obligated to have all boys and girls under their protection receive ordinary education as provided for by law. Such compulsory education shall be free.”(Article 26, Japanese Constitution)
http://www.mext.go.jp/en/policy/education/overview/index.htm
Although the concept of compulsory education is free, parents have to pay for notebooks, stationary, school/ field trip, club activities( if the student wants), and so on.
The contents of curriculum are set in a course of study, which is discussed at The Central Council for Education, an advisory body to the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. This enables to provide the same quality and content of study wherever students move in Japan.
When does school year start?
Mostly, school year in Japan, or also business year, starts in April.
The longest vacation is usually summer vacation, which starts in late July and finishes around the end of August. The reason why Japanese students have a long vacation during summer is it’s too hot to focus on studying in summer. Unlike Western countries, Japanese school kids have a lot of homework during the summer vacation and they usually have to submit them to school.
After summer vacation, students need to wait for winter vacation. It usually starts in late December and school restarts about the second week of January. The kids have homework during this vacation, too.
The last vacation is spring vacation, which is between the school years. In late March, students get in the vacation and come back to school around April 10. Usually there’s no homework for this vacation.
Public or Private school?
Each types of education has both public and private ones. The tuition fees are free for public schools, but private are not. Although school fees are (much) more expensive in private schools than public, they have more flexibility on their education.
In one survey in 2016, 1.8% of elementary school students in Japan go to private schools. That means about 98% of elementary school children go to public. But even though the majority of kids don’t go to private school, it’s sometimes said roughly 50% of 6th grade students go to cram schools, which means taking additional lessons paying extra.
In conclusion
It’s been said there are certain gaps on education in Japan. Although most parts of the public and compulsory education is free, the cost to educate kids is a really important and big problem for parents.
Also, compared to Western countries, the school kids have more homework for their vacations. In my opinion, they need to take a rest without thinking about school or study.
Anyway, knowing school system can be useful when you plan a trip and want to know the kinds-less time. Also, if you make a plan to hang out with Japanese students, it’s easier to understand their school schedule. I hope this article will help you!
