The education ministry has decided to allow schools to carry over unfinished classes in primary and junior high schools, in response to school closures due to the spread of the new coronavirus.
Students other than those in the highest grades in primary and junior high school will be asked to recover their learning delays over two to three years. The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry plans to issue a notice to education boards across the country to allow school curriculums, which are determined by grade, to cover more than one year as a special measure.
In cases where students attend school in staggered groups, in order to limit the number of children at a school at one time, sixth-grade primary school students and third-grade junior high school students who are about to graduate will be given priority, so they can make up for the delay within one year.
Arrangements will also be made so that they will not suffer disadvantages in entrance exams.
The ministry will encourage schools to use facilities such as community centers and libraries, in addition to vacant classrooms, in order to avoid the 3Cs -- closed spaces, crowded spaces and close contact with others. It also plans to work with textbook publishers to choose textbooks that students can use for home study, so that the amount of class time spent on each subject will be reduced.
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