Education in Japan

Education costs

Доля затрат на education GDP from countries in 2017. Blue: primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education. Blue: higher (tertiary) education

Literacy rate

The average literacy rate in countries around the world is about 69%. Data at the end of 2018

2019

Number of years of education by citizens over 25

The number of years of education by citizens over 25 years old, as of 2019

Programming has become a compulsory subject since fifth grade

At the end of March 2019, Japanese authorities announced that programming was becoming a compulsory subject in primary schools in the country. The basics of programming will be taught from the fifth grade. The new textbooks were approved by the ministry formations Japan and will be put into circulation in April 2020.

According to Nikkei, as information technology penetrates deeper into everyday life, international competition in this area is heating up. Japan intends to create as wide a range of potential IT professionals as possible so that children with an interest in programming can easily continue their studies. The goal is to instill in students the basics of using code to process information, as well as to teach logical thinking through trial and error.

Japan's Ministry of Education has already approved textbooks that will be used by all students from the fifth grade

Even if the IT market grows at a moderate pace, Japan will be short of about 290,000 IT professionals by 2020 and about 590,000 by 2030, according to forecasts from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Programming has become a mandatory part of high school education in Japan since 2012, and the curriculum is scheduled to expand to primary school from 2021. Compulsory education in Japan ceases in high school.

In a number of countries, such initiatives have been held for a long time. South Korea began introducing programming into primary and secondary school curricula in 2007. In 2014, the UK introduced programming into the compulsory education programme for pupils aged 5 to 16. However, there is little to introduce programming basics into the curriculum - many practical obstacles need to be overcome, such as acquiring school computers and training teachers in the subject. In the meantime, many Japanese IT professionals are trained by companies or on their own.^[1]

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