High school curriculum guidelines not to mention Takeshima

TOKYO, Dec. 22 Kyodo - A draft revision of the Japanese education ministry's curriculum guidelines for high schools released Monday does not specifically mention islets disputed with South Korea, following the souring of Tokyo-Seoul ties earlier this year over reference to the territory in a similar document for junior high schools.
The new draft covering high school geography classes remains unchanged from the
current document in terms of guiding teachers to ''touch on Japan's territorial
issues,'' without giving specific examples of such problems.
In July, the Japanese government decided to refer to the two uninhabited islets
in a nonbinding teaching guideline for junior high schools, making it the first
time such an educational document has mentioned the territory.
The document in question will supplement Japan's new educational guidelines for
social studies at junior high schools from the 2012 school year starting in
April that year, according to the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology Ministry.
The South Korean-controlled rocky islets in the Sea of Japan, which are called
Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea and include numerous reefs covering
a total area of 210,000 square meters, have long been a source of dispute
between the two countries.
Meanwhile, the revised high school curriculum guidelines also calls for English
classes to be taught basically in English and stipulates that the number of
English words to be taught during junior and senior high school will be
increased to about 3,000 from the current 2,200.
The draft also seeks provisions that enable students to review the contents of
compulsory education, which cover elementary and junior high school years in
Japan, in light of the diversification among students who go on to attend high
school owing to a 98 percent advancement rate.
The ministry gave up an earlier plan to make Japanese history compulsory in the
geography and history section, while keeping world history as a compulsory
class.
According to the draft, high school students are required to earn at least 74
units for graduation -- the same as in the current guidelines -- while the
schools are asked to come up with moral education programs in response to a
recent revision of the basic education law.
The new high school guidelines, scheduled to be finalized for announcement in
February or March next year, will take effect for students entering high school
in the academic year which begins in April 2012 for mathematics and science,
and for those admitted for the 2013-2014 academic year for other subjects,
according to ministry officials.
The ministry's curriculum guidelines, first proposed in 1947 and revised
roughly every 10 years, indicate the minimum standards of course contents which
schools are required to teach students.
==Kyodo