Chapter VIII Special Needs Education

The purpose of special needs education schools is to provide education equivalent to kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, or high school towards persons with visual impairment, persons with hearing impairment, persons with intellectual disability, persons with physical disability, or persons with health impairment (this includes persons with constitutional weakness; the same applies below), and to bestow knowledge and skills necessary in order to overcome hardships in life or learning due to disabilities, and achieving independence.

Special needs education schools are to clarify what education the relevant schools are going to provide to the persons specified in the preceding Article, as provided for by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

In special needs education schools, education is to be provided in order to realize the purposes provided in Article 72, as well as making efforts to give necessary assistance and advice for the education of young children, pupils or students provided in Article 81, paragraph (1), in response to the request of kindergartens, elementary schools, junior high schools, compulsory education schools, high schools or secondary education schools.

The extent of disability of persons with visual impairment, persons with hearing impairment, persons with intellectual disability, persons with physical disability, or persons with health impairment provided in Article 72 is to be prescribed by Cabinet Order.

①Special needs education schools must have elementary school courses and junior high school courses; provided, however, that in cases where there is a special need, they may have only one of those courses.

②Special needs education schools may have kindergarten courses or high school courses, beyond elementary school courses and junior high school courses, and in cases where there is a special need, they may have kindergarten courses or high school courses without having elementary school courses and junior high school courses, notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Matters regarding childcare contents including the curriculum in kindergarten courses, curriculum in elementary school courses and junior high school courses, or departments and curriculum in high school courses in special needs education schools, are to be prescribed by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, in line with kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school or high school.

Special needs education schools must establish dormitories; provided, however, that if there are special circumstances, it may not be necessary to establish these.

①Special needs education schools with dormitories established must have dormitory leaders.

②Dormitory leaders are to engage in caretaking and lifestyle guidance of young children, pupils or students in their daily life.

Prefectures must establish special needs education schools that are required to allow for the enrollment of persons with visual impairment, persons with hearing impairment, persons with intellectual disability, persons with physical disability, or persons with health impairment, whose disabilities are of an extent specified by Cabinet Order referred to in Article 75, among school-aged children and school-aged students in its jurisdictional district.

①In kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, compulsory education school, high school, and secondary education school, education is to be provided towards young children, pupils and students who fall under any of the items in the following paragraph, and other young children, pupils and students requiring special educational support, in order to overcome hardships in life or learning due to disabilities, as provided for by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

②Elementary schools, junior high schools, compulsory education schools, high schools and secondary education schools may have special needs education classes in regular school for pupils and students who fall under any of the following items:

③In schools provided for in the preceding paragraph, education may be provided to pupils and students recuperating from disease by establishing a special needs education class in regular school, or staffing teachers.

The provisions of Articles 26, 27, 31 (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Articles 49 and 62 following the deemed replacement of terms), 32, 34 (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Articles 49 and 62), 36, 37 (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 28, paragraph (1), and Articles 49 and 62), 42 through 44, 47, and 56 through 60, apply mutatis mutandis to special needs education schools, the provisions of Article 28, paragraph (2) to the kindergarten courses of special needs education schools, and the provisions of Article 84 to the high school courses of special needs education schools, respectively.