Under the draft, the ministry plans to allow elementary schools to replace some integrated study classes with English lessons. The new guidelines will increase the number of English classes for elementary school students.

The planned measures are designed to support students who will study under the current and new curriculum guidelines.

The transition period will be fiscal 2018-2019 for elementary school students and fiscal 2018-2020 for junior high school students. The new guidelines will be fully introduced in fiscal 2020 at elementary schools and in fiscal 2021 at junior high schools.

Under the new guidelines, English is set to become an official subject for elementary school fifth- and sixth-graders, while classes will be introduced to make third- and fourth-graders familiar with English.

During the transition period, the ministry called for increasing the annual number of classes for foreign language studies by 15 from the current 35 for fifth- and sixth-grade students, and newly introducing 15 such classes a year for third- and fourth-graders.

The ministry plans to finalize the plan in early July at the earliest, after seeking opinions from the public and experts until June 25. (Jiji Press)