Japan discusses new plan for school lessons

On September 25, 2026, a group of experts^*1 met in Japan to talk about school lessons. The group is part of the Central Council for Education. This council gives advice to the Ministry of Education, the part of Japan's government in charge of schools. It was the group's 18th meeting.

At the meeting, the group looked at a draft^*2 of a new plan. The plan will say what schools in Japan should teach. The draft is very long. It comes in four files, and the first two parts together are about 400 pages. A third part with extra information makes it even longer.

The group talked about three big ideas in the draft. The first idea is a new system for adjusting^*3 class hours. The second idea is helping students become much better at information skills^*4. The third idea is about standard class hours^*5. This number may need to change because of the first two ideas. The draft also has a section on each school subject. One of them is a subject about information and technology.

The plan is still a draft. The group is still discussing it.

1. *1 experts: people who know a lot about one subject
2. *2 draft: an early version of a plan or paper that is not finished yet
3. *3 adjusting: changing something a little to make it fit better
4. *4 information skills: the ability to find, understand, and use information well
5. *5 standard class hours: the number of hours a school should teach each subject