Almost All Junior High School Textbooks to Feature QR Codes

Jiji Press

17:38 JST, March 23, 2024

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Almost all Japanese junior high school textbooks will include quick response, or QR, codes allowing students to access links to videos and other educational resources, according to the results of education ministry screenings released Friday.

The widespread adoption of QR codes in textbooks for use in the 2025 academic year is in line with the ministry’s “giga school” initiative to equip every child at elementary or junior high school with an information device.

It was the second round of textbook screenings conducted by the ministry under the current teaching curriculum guidelines.

A total of 100 textbooks covering 10 subjects for use at junior high schools from the year starting in April 2025 passed the ministry review.

One textbook failed, while decisions were shelved for two others.All textbooks that passed focused on so-called active learning, which puts emphasis on independent, interactive and in-depth learning, a key area in the teaching curriculum guidelines.Some textbooks mentioned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022.

There were textbooks that referred to the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022 by a man who was convinced that Abe had ties with the religious organization known as the Unification Church.

None of the textbooks, however, mentioned various issues that have come to light concerning the organization, formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.