Japan to Start Full Use of Digital Textbooks from FY 2024

Tokyo, Aug. 25 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese education ministry plans to start the full-fledged use of digital textbooks from fiscal 2024, first for English classes for elementary school fifth- and sixth-graders and junior high school students, it was learned Thursday.

Digital textbooks will also be fully used for mathematics classes, from fiscal 2025 at the earliest. They will be used together with paper textbooks to avoid confusion in classes for the time being.

On Thursday, the ministry presented an interim report on the use of digital textbooks to a working group of the Central Council for Education, an advisory panel to the education minister, and obtained broad approval.

For English, digital textbooks with text-to-speech functions are expected to be effective in learning how to pronounce words and improving listening skills. For mathematics, such textbooks are expected to make it easier for students to view graphs and diagrams.

The ministry is yet to decide when the use of digital textbooks will start for other subjects.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]