CHANGES IN THE NUMBER OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS AND PUPILS FROM 1963 TO 2011 IN YAMAGUCHI PREFECTURE

Abstract

This paper aims to explain the changes in pupil numbers and resulting schools closures. From 1963 to 1980 the number of pupils declined drastically and the amalgamation and reorganization of schools proceeded massively. The number of pupils has been falling down since 1983 but there were no major changes in school numbers until 2002. However after that many schools shut down as the large scale merging of municipalities took place. We classified municipalities into 4 categories determined by the changes of school numbers in them and analyzed characteristics of the types.