Students at all Tokyo Metropolitan Government-run high schools will be forced to engage in community service beginning in the 2007 academic year, metro board of education officials said Thursday.
Tokyo will be the first prefecture to introduce the mandatory subject.
The board plans to make students assist staff at welfare institutions, participate in organizing community festivals or conduct similar activities, the officials said.
The officials said that taking part in socially needed work and experiencing the joy of being thanked by people will make students think about their future.
A growing number of Japanese youths are unable to go to school, get jobs or receive vocational training, they said.
Each of the roughly 200 metropolitan government-run schools will be free to determine the frequency and type of activities in which students must engage. Possibilities include community service on a weekly basis, during school hours or during students' summer vacation, they said.
Thirty-five hours of community service will earn each student one credit, which will be a graduation requirement.
A trial run at 20 schools will begin in the 2005 academic year, the officials said.