Pupils don't have to study English at elementary school yet. But over the next year, the Education Ministry plans to spend 180 million yen to help children study the language outside of school on the weekend. Using the requested budget for the next school year starting in April, the ministry plans to select 20 municipalities across the country and pay for local cram school teachers and other able personnel to teach English to children every Saturday. Up to 3,000 children between grades four and six will be allowed to join the program in each region. Ryuichiro Shirama, an official at the ministry's Long-Life Learning Bureau, said the plan is to create more opportunities for interested children to learn English even though many schools are expected to introduce English under the new guidelines. "The schools are not the only place for learning," he said. The ministry has long been a strong opponent of cram schools, saying they only accelerate competition for entrance exams. But recently, it has softened its stance on the basis that such private institutions could complement school education. English, being a new optional subject at public elementary schools, will seem to need the help of private resources. "People who teach under our pilot project could be foreign students, Japanese who have lived abroad, private English teachers, or anyone in town who can speak and teach English," Shirama said. Under the new project, the contents and methods of teaching English are left up to each region, or even each teacher. "By doing various lessons, we want to look for good ways of teaching English to children," Shirama said. (J.T.)
