Secondary Education in Japan - Senior High School

Senior High School

Even though upper-secondary school is not compulsory in Japan, 94% of all lower-secondary school graduates entered upper secondary schools in 1989. Private upper-secondary schools account for about 24% of all upper-secondary schools. The Ministry of Education estimated that annual family expenses for the education of a child in a public upper-secondary school were about ¥300,000 (US$2,142) in both 1986 and 1987 and that private upper-secondary schools were about twice as expensive. However, starting April 2010, due to the "Act on Free Tuition Fee at Public High Schools and High School Enrollment Support Fund," passed March 31, 2010 and enacted April 1, 2010, standard Japanese public high school education is now tuition-free.

All upper-secondary schools, public and private, are informally ranked, based on their success in placing graduates in freshman classes of the most prestigious universities. In the 1980s, private upper-secondary schools occupied the highest levels of this hierarchy, and there was substantial pressure to do well in the entrance examinations that determined the upper-secondary school a child entered. Admission also depends on the scholastic record and performance evaluation from lower-secondary school, but the examination results largely determine school entrance. Students are closely counseled in lower-secondary school, so that they will be relatively assured of a place in the schools to which they apply. Unlike junior high schools, the students move between classes each period.

The most common type of upper-secondary schools has a full-time, general program that offered academic courses for students preparing for higher education and also technical and vocational courses for students expecting to find employment after graduation. More than 70% of upper-secondary school students were enrolled in the general academic program in the late 1980s. A small number of schools offer part-time or evening courses or correspondence education.