Hokkaido High Schools Launch Courses on Drones to Attract Students; Subsidies Allow Student to Obtain Certification

By Yusuke Takata / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

7:00 JST, January 7, 2025

A public high school in Hokkaido, which is in danger of being consolidated due to declining student numbers, plans to attract prospective students by establishing a course where they can obtain certification to operate drones.

Small drones are being used in an ever-widening range of applications, such as home delivery and search operations during disasters. Another high school in the prefecture has already introduced such a course and seen a significant increase in its student intake.

Biei High School in Biei held an event for participants, including local children, to experience operating drones. The school plans to start offering a new program in fiscal 2025 for students to obtain a national qualification that allows its holders to operate drones in uninhabited areas without filing an application to the national government, under certain conditions.

Biei is a thriving agricultural town, and its patchwork landscape of fields is popular with tourists. However, the town’s population has declined to about 9,200, and the number of students at the high school has dropped from about 800 in the 1960s to just 47 today. The school is now a target for consolidation under the standards of the Hokkaido prefectural board of education.

As part of efforts to address the problem, the school has envisaged an elective drone program for second- and third-year students where practical training is provided by external instructors. In order to keep the town’s only high school running, the local government will subsidize most of the costs. The school launched drone-related club activities in autumn last year.

“Utilization of drones matches the town’s emphasis on tourism, agriculture and disaster prevention. The development of personnel who can contribute to the local community will be the unique feature of the program,” said the school’s vice principal, Junya Amano.

Fukushima Commercial High School in the town of Fukushima, also in Hokkaido, started drone-related classes in fiscal 2023. The course teaches students to operate drones and edit photos with the cooperation of a telecommunications company. The school also made it possible for students to obtain national certification during summer vacation and on other occasions with subsidies provided by the local government.

Although the school has an enrollment limit of 40, it has sometimes had an intake of less than 10 students in recent years. In fiscal 2024, however, the school welcomed 29 new students, ensuring they can keep accepting students for the time being.

Kohei Nozaki, 16, a first-year student, said he became interested in drones when he visited the school for an event for prospective students in 2023. “Getting a job in the town using drones after graduation could be a good option,” he said.

“From the perspective of utilizing drones for disaster prevention, it is very important for municipalities to have people who can operate them,” said Toshihiro Nishizawa, associate professor at Future University Hakodate and a drone expert. “Conducting such training at local high schools, where many of the students would work locally after graduation, is a noteworthy initiative.”

There are also schools in urban areas outside Hokkaido that offer classes on drones in an effort to make their schools more attractive.

Shuei High School in Izumi Ward, Yokohama, concluded a business partnership with a drone school operator in fiscal 2023 and began offering elective classes for students aiming to obtain national certification. The school said three students have passed the exam to date. The Osaka prefectural board of education is also planning to establish a special course where students can learn such skills as operating drones at a to-be-consolidated technical high school.