As the number of elementary and junior high school students decreases, the number of children not attending school is increasing. The number of elementary and junior high school students who did not attend school in 2023 increased by 16% compared to the previous year to 346,482. This number is the highest number ever recorded. This is the 11th consecutive year of increase in school absenteeism, and the first time that it has exceeded 300,000. In order to guarantee the right to learn, it is also important to establish a system that can respond to anxiety and worries. It seems that 30% of children who have become school absentees say that they are “not motivated to live at school.” In addition, 20% of children stated worries such as “anxiety/depression” and “disorders in daily rhythm.”
If there is a problem, we will devise a way to solve it. The performance of recognition tasks such as image recognition, voice recognition, and translation are rapidly improving. Once the direction to move forward is decided, technology has the tendency to progress rapidly afterwards. For example, Avex is working with Microsoft Japan to try to quantify audience satisfaction at live shows. The system uses a camera to take a picture of the audience’s face, and AI evaluates the person’s level of concentration based on their facial expression, direction, and body movements. If we can automatically quantify the satisfaction of the audience from the moment they are in a live performance, we can obtain good data. This software that automatically quantifies satisfaction is being considered for introduction in cram schools and language schools. It is possible to grasp the concentration level of learning and the degree of achievement of children. If we can understand the satisfaction level of learning and signs of school refusal from children’s facial expressions, a new situation may emerge toward a solution.
In Japan, tablets are distributed as a tool for digital textbooks. However, it has become clear that this tool can also be used in other ways. Some boards of education have begun to use this tool distributed to children to take measures against school absenteeism, such as understanding mental and physical abnormalities. One board of education has instructed children to enter information about their daily mood and sleep hours into a device. This board of education is digitizing information about children’s daily mood and sleep hours. Technology that utilizes big data such as images, voice, and language is rapidly spreading throughout society. We would like to use this technology to digitize in the field of education as well. If we can digitize children’s motivation to learn and mental and physical abnormalities, teachers and parents can use it effectively. If we can use data in this way, we may be able to reduce school absenteeism a little.
