In surveyed primary schools, not one sixth-grader now scores at the lowest English level in Japan

Japan's latest national survey of more than 970,000 sixth-graders brings a quiet milestone: the share scoring at the very lowest level in English, CEFR A1, has fallen to 15.6% — and in the city primaries surveyed, not a single pupil was assessed below that A1 threshold. Listening was the strongest skill; speaking remains the hardest. Officials credit the 2020 decision to make English a formal subject from fifth grade, taught by homeroom teachers working alongside native-speaking assistants — slow, steady teaching, now showing up in the numbers.

SDG 4 · Quality education — Mechanism: policy reform