
Japanese schools should rethink their decades-old ban on corporal punishment, a government-appointed panel has urged. The report, submitted amid growing concern over bullying, stopped short of overtly backing beating, but suggested an end to a policy of leniency...Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called the report "wonderful"...Alarmed by the trend of bullying deaths, the panel, chaired by the Nobel laureate Ryoji Noyori, urged schools last November to punish classroom bullies and crack down on teachers who ignored the problem...The report urges an end to the recent policy of leniency in schools, which had been initiated in response to the growing pressures on children to get high scores on tests, but which critics blame for a drop in standards. It also suggests increasing class hours from around 3,900 hours per year to a little over 4,000 hours, compulsory public service and a switch in the start of the school year from April to the autumn. Since 1947, anything from punishing children by making them stand out in the hall to physically striking them is banned...more...