Secondary education in Japan is split into junior high schools (中学 chūgaku) which cover the seventh through ninth grades, and senior high schools (高等学校 kōtōgakkō, abbreviated to 高校 kōkō) which mostly cover grades ten through twelve. Attendance in upper secondary school is not compulsory, but most students do attend.
Most Japanese upper secondary schools have complicated admissions procedures, similar to university admissions in other countries. Some of the top senior high schools, however, graduate their students directly into the top universities, such as the University of Tokyo. Students who do not plan to attend university are generally tracked into vocational senior high schools: very few lower secondary school graduates forgo upper secondary school entirely, although they are free to do so if they wish.
In Japan, the School Education Law was revised in 1998, and secondary schools were newly recognized. Education in these schools combines that of junior and senior high schools, without a clear break. A further revision to the law was carried out on 15 December 2006. The revised law leaves the structure of schooling basically the same but includes new emphases on respect for Japanese culture (Article 2.5), school discipline (Article 6.2), and parental responsibility (Article 10).
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