A Study of the Cooperation between the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (the Former Ministry of Education) and the Other Ministries and Government Offices (Ver.1) : Focusing on the Promotion of the Policy for Informazation of Education

Abstract

Japan began its informazation of education much later than the countries of Europe and America as well as other parts of Asia. The former Ministry of Education and representatives of four other government agencies came together under the Prime Minister to explore the informazation of education. The result was the Millennium Project, and later the new Japan Plan followed by a more specialized new Japan Plan. The plan devised among these policy makers, however, did not go as smoothly as expected. The former Ministry of Education did not have the know-how to support the skills and methods needed to carry out this plan. On the other hand, the ministries dealing with information technology were excited about the chance to use their know-how in the area of education. This paper focuses on the actions of those ministries involved in the informazation efforts starting in the early 1980s, when informazation was first included in the budget, through the present. This paper also analyzes the principles behind the actions of the former Ministry of Education and the other involved ministries concerning the informazaion of education. Specifically, the time frames discussed are: 1. the early stages, 2. beginning of cooperation among ministries, 3. development of the Millennium Project. The above analysis of the ministries actions is also made for each time frame