Since the 1950s, Japan has lacked any survey which indicates how many persons have difficulties to read and write. However, we can find many adults who learn at literacy classes in the community and evening classes of lower secondary schools because they could not receive compulsory education in their childhood as the result of discrimination, poverty, disease, disability or colonization. Recently the number of Japanese classes for people who speak other languages is increasing.As it is necessary to promote the study of basic education including literacy, numeracy and Japanese, we established the Japan Assosiation for the Study of Basic Education and Literacies (JASBEL) in 2016, which connects researchers,practitioners, learners and policy-makers, widening networks and partnerships for basic education. JASBEL has made policy proposals to national and local institutions based on the Law for Insuring Educational Opportunities Equivalent to Compulsory Education which was enacted in 2016. More efforts are needed to improve and create curriculum as well as teaching and learning processes through interdisciplinary research into basic education. UNESCO holds that literacy as part of education is a fundamental human right and it is needed to participate fully in society. We must cooperate with UNESCO and other nations, especially Asian countries which have made efforts for developing basic education.

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This paper provides an overview of the progress on achieving basic education for all in Asia and the Pacific and discuss Japan’s possible cooperation with other countries in this area. An international commitment to ‘Education for All (EFA)’ was initiated at the World Conference on EFA held in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990.The global reviews of EFA in 2015 found that further efforts are required to achieve EFA, in particular, ensuring basic education for out-of-school children and illiterate adults as the remaining priority agenda. Main issues of exclusion from basic education include: lack of infrastructure and transportation; lack of quality materials and personnel; poverty; and, socio-cultural factors against education, particularly for girls and women. An international commitment to EFA was renewed under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2014 as one of the 17 development goals to be achieved by 2030. Effective strategies to accelerate basic education for all will be: improving access and quality of formal schooling with focus on the disadvantaged and excluded population groups; developing equivalency programmes to provide alternative learning opportunities for those who are excluded from formal education; and, promoting community-based learning such as Community Learning Centres for individual learning and community development. Japan has been one of the main donors supporting EFA efforts of developing countries in Asia and other regions over the decades. While maintaining such international assistance roles for EFA, Japan should also review domestic challenges of basic education in the country, such as out-of-school children, and develop collaboration mechanisms with other countries. The Japanese Society for the Study of Basic Education and Literacies can play a leading role to initiate inter-country joint research and forums in such areas as literacy, equivalency, and community-based learning under the aging society.

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In this paper, I focus on issues toward securing human resources that are the basis (core) for building a society that guarantees basic education and literacies. Specifically, I cover the following positions: (1) Japanese language education experts, (2) Japanese coordinators, (3) system coordinators, (4) Japanese volunteers, and I mention what kind of qualities and abilities are required. In addition, I summarize the future issues and prospects by referring to and citing the report of Nihongo Kyoiku Gakkai (The Society for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language) (2011, 131-133). Ultimately, among (1) to (4), I suggest that securing human resources capable of fulfilling the role of system coordinator is particularly important. By securing this key person, if will enrich the operation of the council advocated in Article 15 of the basic law of the realizing the basic educational opportunity (The council conducts communication and coordination for the foundation and creation of a system for ensuring diverse learning places in the community.) which is said that this will lead to enriching the operation of the organizations undertaking. I also suggest that it will lead to the creation of a system of society that guarantees basic education and literacies in the future and enhancement of measures and business development related to Evening junior high school.

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According to UNESCO, the concept of basic education is now connected to lifelong education which aims for a society of citizens who collaborate to resolve social problems rather than pursue private well-being. Then how about basic education of people with disabilities? The diversity of the theoretical frameworks reflects the reality of people with disabilities in society and supports the development of practices in basic education for people with disabilities. It was once thought as a tool to develop the abilities of individuals with disabilities till they are able to adapt to mainstream society, but now it has to be a tool to help citizens both with and without disabilities to solve issues, espectally ones related to disability. To look at the notion of basic education of people with disabilities, the change of the concept of disability should be reexamined. It has been transformed internationally from a concept based on an individual or medical model of disability to that based on a social model of disability. This transformation indicates that society rather than individuals with disabilities must change to solve disability issues. Thus basic education of people with disabilities now should be seen as a tool to change the relationship between people with disabilities and those without, in order to resolve social issues together. From this perspective, this paper focuses the practices of the independent living program and the self-advocacy as advanced cases of the basic education of people with disabilities.Though these practices have been neglected by educational discourse, their endeavor needs to be reevaluated as a means to forming on inclusive society through basic education of people with disabilities.

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Individuals with incomplete basic education have existed for decades, although few studies have clarified their characteristics. Using district-level data from the 2010 Population Census of Japan, this study applied the count data analysis to investigate the characteristics of 128,187 individuals who did not complete basic education. The estimation results suggest that individuals who did not complete basic education have a high probability of remaining unmarried, living on the welfare facility or public housing, or being women of foreign origin. These results have significant policy implications for the national government, suggesting a strong need to gather additional statistical information with regard to individuals who did not complete basic education when the 2020 Population Census of Japan is conducted.

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The child poverty issue in Okinawa is becoming more serious. Given the situation, the universities in Okinawa organized ‘the children’s place: a student volunteer center’ to support those children whose families are facing serious financial trouble by providing a children’s diner and a learning support class staffed by student volunteers. The center is run by the participating universities with the support from the government and the business community. The main services the center offers are a public awareness program for the volunteer activities, registration and training for the university students, matching between the center and the students, and the dispatch of students. Student activity in the local community can not only be an invaluable asset connecting the universities and the local community, but also play an important role in promoting collaboration between them.

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In the 1970s, the civic group Nara ni Yakan Chūgaku o Tsukuru Kai (The Society to Create a Night Junior High School in Nara) engaged in a movement to have such a school opened in the city. This article looks at the points raised by the Society—guaranteeing the right to education to persons older than school age and the responsibilities of the municipality; guaranteeing the right to education to persons older than school age and the distinction between school education and social education; and reconsidering the boundaries of education intended for persons older than school age—and details the logic underlying each argument. By applying political philosopher Jacques Rancière's concept of 'politique' it is apparent that the actions of civic movements that included residents other than persons older than school age, as well as the actions of Socialist Party of Japan assembly members who called for the creation of schools (night junior high schools) for persons older than school age, created 'politique' conditions that shook the established order of education administration, and encouraged a reconsideration of how the boundaries that led to the creation of a night junior high school were laid out.

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