Local News

Under the new Democratic Party of Japan administration, the Ministry of Education has announced a policy of having only selected schools administer the scholastic ability test given to sixth-grade primary school students and third-year junior high school students rather than all the schools in a prefecture. The test, which is to be conducted annually, was restored in 2007 after 43 years. Fukuoka Prefecture, however, announced its intention to have all schools continue to administer the test. They say it will be difficult to certify academic ability by district or by municipality if only selected schools administer the test.