The government should not reduce the legal ceiling on class sizes at elementary and junior high schools from 40 students to the proposed 30 to 35 because it would be too costly, according to a draft report compiled by an Education Ministry advisory panel.

The panel instead proposed using the existing system flexibly and having municipalities use their discretion to raise the number of teachers to make class sizes smaller.

Teachers' salaries are currently divided equally between the central and prefectural governments, and the draft report suggested placing the financial burden of smaller classes on municipalities.