The trade: fewer hours elsewhere
The education ministry (MEXT) is consulting on a proposed curriculum that keeps total standard teaching hours at today's level while adding information-technology lessons. The Central Council for Education's curriculum subcommittee says the extra time would come from cutting about 3-4% from subjects that now run above 35 periods, from grade 3 up. The exact standard hours are still to be set by a separate curriculum committee.
The additions are a new "information domain" in elementary integrated studies and a new junior high subject combining information and technology. The summary estimates that, at most, roughly 30 to 70 periods per grade would be needed for them.
Schools get more room to move hours
An "adjusted teaching hours" system would let schools teach below standard hours, by up to about 15% in subjects above 35 periods. The freed time could go to other subjects, a school-designed subject or discretionary time, including organised research and training. The summary says the system's design is still under discussion at the council.
Two timetables
The consultation runs from 6 October to 5 November 2026, by web form only. The ministry says the new guidelines are to be implemented in stages from fiscal 2028. Full implementation would be fiscal 2030 for elementary schools and fiscal 2031 for junior highs. Transitional measures would let elementary schools start the new domain in fiscal 2028 and junior highs the new subject in fiscal 2029, though their content is still to be worked out.
What it means for suppliers
The summary calls for narrower textbooks. It asks publishers of maths and science books to show how essential each item is, and it recommends that English textbooks use a national core-vocabulary list. On the IT side, the summary says that from fiscal 2026 MEXT plans to develop learner materials, including lesson videos, and to offer online teacher-licence courses. This is a proposal, not an adopted curriculum.