JAPAN’S education system is struggling to come to terms with an almost unprecedented problem - falling maths scores.

Critics say that the disappointing test results for junior pupils prove that recent reforms have “dumbed down” education.

Japan is still envied for top scores in international maths and science tests along with other Asian nations. But in fact the results of national maths tests taken in March this year are down an average 10.7 per cent from 20 years ago. The statistics have been cited as evidence of falling standards by newspapers, which are also critical of the middle-school reforms introduced six months ago.

“The results show a definite drop in scholastic ability,” said Hiroaki Mimizuka, professor of education at Ochanomizu University.

In the maths test, conducted by the University of Tokyo’s Centre for Clinical Research on Schools, 6,228 first to sixth-grade pupils at 17 elementary schools in and around Tokyo were asked to answer 129 questions.

Its purpose was to test the impact of cuts in curriculum content and lighter textbooks. It was also looking at effects of the new five-day school week. Schoolchildren were first given one Saturday off a month in 1992. This increased to two Saturdays a month in 1995. Last April all schools across the nation adopted the five-day week.

The government has been trying to reform education and has taken as its slogan “Schools will be better, education will change”. The emphasis on rote learning has been dropped along with stress on cramming, discipline and conformity. Instead schools are encouraged to foster individualism and raise children who will be independent thinkers.

The changes have come unexpectedly fast as Japan struggles to free itself from a decade-long recession. Pressure from business leaders, who believe Japan’s education system does not prepare students for the rigours of the international workplace, is believed to have prodded a deeply conservative government into action.

In line with the new courses of study and five-day week, the curriculum has been reduced by 30 per cent.

A new integrated study period, modelled on those in the West, has been introduced, allowing student-centred, project-type work that focuses on non-traditional topics such as society, media studies, IT or the environment. The once highly centralised educational controls are also shifting to local boards, and school staff.

All the planned reforms have been made at elementary and middle-school levels but curriculum changes at the all-important entrance exam level at high schools will only begin next April.

The reforms have been popular with schoolchildren. But teachers complain about the extra workload.

“The public response has been quite negative,” said Michio Nitta, professor of education at Tokyo University. “If I were a bureaucrat, I would have reduced the time allocated to music, gym and so on to save time for maths and Japanese.”