Japanese Government to Implement Generative AI in Teaching for Foreign Students

The Japanese government is planning to advance the use of generative artificial intelligence and digital technologies to better facilitate the teaching of the Japanese language to children from foreign backgrounds. According to sources, this initiative comes in response to the growing demand for language support, especially as many public schools struggle to find staff who can speak the native languages of their diverse student populations, such as Portuguese, Chinese, and Spanish.

To implement this, the education ministry intends to create guidelines that will not only improve teaching methods for the Japanese language but will also encompass other subjects. They are seeking to include the associated costs in their budget request for fiscal 2026, aiming to finalize these guidelines by the end of the year. A report indicates that as of May 2023, there were approximately 69,000 students in Japan needing Japanese language instruction—the highest figure recorded since surveys began in 1991—yet about 10 percent of these students lack adequate in-class or after-school support.

Moreover, the education ministry is looking to integrate translation applications powered by generative AI and digital learning into the education system, ensuring high-quality instruction for all students, regardless of their linguistic backgrounds. The forthcoming guidelines will detail not only effective teaching strategies for the Japanese language and other subjects but will also outline necessary practices for schools to support the smooth integration of foreign students.

To further bolster this initiative, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology plans to research effective collaboration methods among teachers, Japanese language educators, and native language support personnel. Additionally, they aim to increase budget requests from fiscal 2025 onwards, providing subsidies to local governments to hire more language instructors and support staff, as well as to create programs encouraging enrollment for foreign children not currently attending school.