Monday, February 9, 2009

Meeting on Education Rebuilding

Prime Minister Taro Aso held the 7th Meeting on Education Rebuilding at the Prime Minister's Office.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Aso received The Summary of Discussion: The Third Report, compiled at the Meeting on Education Rebuilding, from Mr. Yuichiro Anzai, Chair of the Meeting. The Report describes modalities of (i) use of mobile phone, (ii) education in the era of universal higher education enrollment, and (iii) the board of education system. On the first point, the Report outlines the efforts to be tackled by society as a whole to safeguard children from the adverse effects of use of mobile phone, including harmful information and disorderly lifestyle. On the second point, the Report proposes measures to be tackled by people involved, including those from the government and universities. On the third point, the Report identifies issues concerning the board of education system and recommends measures to resolve them.

In his address, Prime Minister Aso said, "I would like to extend once more my heartfelt appreciation to the members of the Meeting, beginning with Mr. Anzai, for your efforts. We must reflect [these points in the Report] in the government's policies. For my part, I stressed in my policy speech to the current session of the Diet that the essence of nation-building lies in human resources development. It all comes down to human resources development. How we tackle human resource development differs from era to era as the attributes that are required of students and others change over time. I ask the Meeting to continue its deliberations while taking into account the era that we will enter in the future."