PART Recent Trends and Developments in Government Policies in Education, Science and Culture
Chapter 5 Promotion of "Social Education"
1 Overview of Government Policies
Today, along with various changes in society, including an increase
in leisure hours and the advancement of science and technology, the learning
demands of people have become diversified and heightened. In the context of urbanization,
an increase in nuclear families, and other social changes, children today have
few opportunities for contact with nature, and they are not in such circumstances
as are favorable to the cultivation of basic habits in daily life.
Under these circumstances, the Ministry of Education, Science
and Culture plans to develop its policies and measures in the fields of "social
education" (education for adults and out-of- school youths), placing emphasis
on: (1) the activation of the educational functions of the family and the community;
(2) the provision of diverse learning opportunities, relevant to the age of an
80-year life span, for adults, especially for the aged and women; (3) the provision
of more and better facilities and "social education" leaders and the creation
of networks for "social education "facilities; and (4) the effective use of various
media for people's learning activities.