 Fukushima to limit class size for all grades Fukushima Governor Sato Eisaku on January 4 announced a plan to reduce the maximum class size for all grades to 30 in public elementary and junior high schools. Fukushima will be the first prefecture to carry out such reductions. At a press conference, Sato said that Fukushima is planning to provide 2 billion yen in fiscal year 2005 for schools to have enough teachers and classrooms to meet this new standard. In the first and second grades in elementary schools and the first grade in junior high schools, the maximum class size has been set at 30 in Fukushima since 2003. Japanese Communist Party Prefectural Assembly members have been demanding that all elementary and junior high schools have no more than 30 students in a classroom. Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Trade Unions President Ogawa Hideo, who was a candidate for the 2004 Fukushima gubernatorial election calling for a smaller class size, said that it was the foremost promise made in his election campaign. Teachers and parents throughout the country are demanding that the class size be reduced to no more than 30. The All Japan Teachers and Staff's Union (Zenkyo) has been carrying out a major campaign calling on central and local governments to meet this demand. (end) |