Tokyo, Nov. 5 (Jiji Press)–Japan needs to promote work style reform at schools to secure teachers, education minister Yoshihiro Seki said in a recent interview. “In order to hire excellent teachers, it is important to make the teaching profession more appealing by furtherly promoting work style reform at schools,” Seki said. The ministry is working to allocate support staff and to carefully select work for teachers so that they can commit themselves to tasks that only teachers can do, he said. “We will continue to make the necessary efforts to develop an environment in which teachers can work with pride as highly skilled professionals,” Seki said. He said that the ministry will promote Japanese-language education for foreign residents in Japan by utilizing financial resources obtained through a review of fees on residence permits. The ministry aims to launch preschools across Japan to provide language support for children who have just arrived in the country, Seki said. It also plans to increase the number of language instructors, he said. Seki underscored the importance of basic research, saying it will “lay the foundation of innovation for the next generation.” He said that the ministry will “significantly expand subsidies to support scientific research based on a free idea.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
