Digital Textbooks: Expanded Use Could Transform Compulsory Education

Editorial

15:45 JST, January 24, 2025

There are movements in countries that are advanced in terms of information technology to return to paper textbooks because of the negative impact of excessive digitization on education.

In Japan, too, there are deep-seated concerns at schools. It is difficult to understand why the government, in spite of this, is currently trying to bolster its shift toward digitization.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has presented a point of discussion to a working group of its Central Council for Education that includes the positioning of digital textbooks, currently considered “alternative teaching materials,” as official textbooks. The ministry aims to revise the system by the 2026 academic year and put digital textbooks into use from the 2030 academic year.

Digital textbooks are currently used in combination with paper textbooks for English and part of arithmetic and math from the fifth grade of elementary school to the third year of junior high school. If digital textbooks are designated as official textbooks, paper and digital formats will coexist, and both will be subject to free distribution to students and screening by the ministry.

The working group is considering the introduction of paper-only and digital-only textbooks, as well as a type that combines the two formats. It is envisioned that boards of education will choose which one to use.

Depending on which is chosen, there could be differences in the educational content that children receive. It can be said that this would be a major change to the compulsory education system, which has maintained an environment in which students can uniformly receive a certain level of education anywhere in the country.

This is tantamount to leaving the decision on the format of textbooks, which are at the core of learning, entirely to local governments. Does this not represent an abdication of responsibility by the central government?

Sweden, which had been making progress in a shift to digital textbooks, cited their negative impact on learning and changed tack two years ago by adopting a “de-digitization” approach that emphasizes paper textbooks and handwriting. This is because there was a downward trend in children’s grades, and students were having difficulty maintaining their concentration.

There are concerns that Japan will also fall into the same situation. Sweden’s warning must be taken seriously.

Studies in many countries have shown that paper materials are better than digital ones for deep thinking and memory retention. According to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey on elementary and junior high school principals, 95% of respondents said they wanted digital textbooks to be used in combination with paper ones, and an overwhelming majority expressed their concern about the use of digital textbooks alone.

As there are no particular problems imposed by teaching with paper textbooks, why is the government rushing to switch to digital ones, which will have no clear positive effect, while ignoring the voices of concern by those in schools?

With paper-based textbooks, digital textbooks should remain as alternative teaching materials, making use of their inherent advantages of being able to utilize video and sound.

Although the government may want to make up for the delay in digitization caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a shift to digital insurance certificates, which has been aggressively promoted by the government, has generated strong public opposition. The government should not repeat its mistake.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Jan. 24, 2025)