Informatization of the Faltering Education System
May 24 (Wednesday) 2006
Toru Maegawa
Research Fellow
SUMMARY
- According to the 2004 “Survey Results Regarding the Informatization of Education”, announced by the Ministry of Education on August 2, 2005, the percentage of elementary, middle and high schools with internet access at the end of March 2005 was 99.9%, with 81.7% of schools equipped with high-speed Internet access. If we look only at these statistics it would seem that the informatization of education is steadily progressing. However, if we look at other statistics it becomes clear that this is not the case. For example, there is an average of 44.3 educational-use computers per school, or about 8.1 students per computer. Furthermore, only 44.3% of standard classrooms are LAN-equipped.
- In other words, these numbers allow us to postulate that the majority of schools relegate computers to a designated computer room, where they are used exclusively for learning about IT. Thus, even though students are able to acquire an IT education through computers, IT itself is not being used as part of student's normal education.
- The Japanese government's e-Japan Strategy calls for the number of students per educational-use computer to reach 5.4 by the end of FY 2005, and for all classrooms to be wired for LAN access. In the days remaining before the strategy's scheduled end-date, however, it is clear that it is impossible to achieve the strategy's original goal.
Informatization of Education in the U.S.
According to figures by the U.S. Department of Education, in 1995 only 8% of classrooms had Internet access. Thanks in part to the spread of “NetDay”-a day when local volunteers participate in activities for creating and improving schools' Internet environments-during the latter half of the 1990s, the percentage of classrooms with Internet access reached 93% by 2003.
Furthermore, whereas in 1998 there were 12.1 students per educational-use computer in the U.S., by 2003 this number had improved considerably to 4.4. By 2001 the U.S. had passed the 5.4 students per computer goal set by the e-Japan Strategy mentioned above, and it is thought that the current conditions are even better.
In the U.S., efforts to use this advanced IT environment for teaching and learning are continuing to progress. According to an August 2005 report announced by Pew Internet & American Life Project, 88% of Internet-using students (aged 12-17) and 83% of their guardians responded that learning through the Internet at school was valuable.
There Should Be No Reservations about Spending for Educational Informatization
There are three major benefits for promoting the informatization of education. First, informatization encourages students to become intimately familiar and proficient with the use of IT. In today's society it is becoming increasingly necessary to be able to use computers and other IT equipment as easily and readily as one might use stationery and other writing tools. It is therefore desirable for students to acquire these skills as early as possible.
Second, the informatization of education will produce students who are interested in the workings of IT. These students will become the future leaders of Japan's IT industry. Furthermore, it is also possible that future brilliant IT professionals may also be among these students.
Third, using IT will enable the creation of lessons that are easier for students to learn. There are already numerous examples of how schools can create attractive and easy to understand classes by utilizing the capacity for IT to create interactivity through the expressive power of images and sound.
The first and second benefits mentioned above can be achieved through “teaching IT”, but the third can only be accomplished by “using IT to teach”.
Looking at Japan's laggardly informatization in the education sector, it seems that there are many education-related entities and educators who feel that IT is unnecessary for education. However, considering the importance of education and the benefits that educational informatization can bring, it is urgent to increase the installation of PCs and LAN connections in all standard classrooms. That Japan is currently in tight straits because of massive debts on both the national and local levels is no excuse to sacrifice education. No cent should be spared in the proper informatization of Japan's educational system.