[NATIONAL NEWS]
Private high school tuition waivers eyed (Japan Times)

The ministry is seeking to use ¥24.9 billion out of the ¥32 billion after the aid package for high school students is put in place in the next fiscal year.

At a news conference Friday, education minister Tatsuo Kawabata said the government may ask local governments to contribute financially in carrying out the policy.

“We would like local governments to supplement” the sources to finance the policy, he said. “Free high school tuition is one of our key election promises.”

Under one of the key campaign promises of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan students at both public and private high schools will receive about ¥120,000 per person annually in aid from fiscal 2010.

The aid effectively makes high school education free for public school students, but some have said it is not enough to cover tuition at private schools, which are more expensive

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The education ministry has decided to pursue ways to make private high schools tuition-free for students from low-income households under the new government’s key policy, government sources said.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry will ask the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry to use taxes allocated to local governments to help fund the tuition-free program, which would apply to households with an annual income of up to ¥3.5 million.

Education ministry data show that municipal governments spend roughly ¥32 billion in expenses related to public high school tuition fees, including those needed for tuition exemptions and for covering fees in arrears.

Try hiking the Kotohira Trail — the easiest of Chichibu’s 12 designated hiking course, see Japan Times’ feature “Stepping out on a Chichibu trail“

4 million found in shoes containers bought at school bazaar (Mainichi)

TOEIC: Where does all the money go? (Japan Times)

 

Shogakukan to halt kids’ magazines (magazines to be halted are Shogaku gonensei (Fifth Graders) and Shogaku rokunensei (Sixth Graders))

 

Halloween parade a fun autumn tradition for kids, parents alike (Japan Times)

 

 

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Links to other education-related articles:

  

India Asteroid Killed Dinosaurs, Made Largest Crater? National Geographic News
October 16, 2009 New evidence that not one but two asteroids may have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs

 

One in two Britons say children should be taught creationism in science classes  (Daily Mail)

Some 54 per cent of the population want biology teachers to discuss ‘alternative perspectives’ on human origins alongside traditional explanations of evolution.
 
Solving math anxiety equation: Teachers coach fifth-grade students, peers in algebra In Melissa Shaeffer’s math class at Sharpe Elementary, fifth-graders are beginning to love n2+ 2 because it saves them time figuring out tricky little everyday questions.

 

Say What? Musicians Hear Better 
Several studies reported at the Neuroscience 2009 symposium suggested that musical training can improve your hearing and that musical experience can change how our brain interacts with sounds. This has implications for language learning and for children struggling dyslexia and with other language problems.
Experts suggested that musical training could help children who are struggling with language. In contrast, many children with dyslexia and other language problems do poorly on tests like this.
Musical training could offer a way to improve their performance.

 

 

Should teachers tell kids about the Tooth Fairy? (Washington Post)

 

Reading Incomprehension (NY Times)

 

Experts: Internet bullying on the rise (Arizona Republic)