Overview
- The ministry released confirmed 2025 School Basic Survey figures re‑tabulated to include special-needs students, revising university advancement rates and 11 other indicators, in some cases retroactively for up to 48 years.
- An internal review identified 15 additional surveys that excluded or mishandled data from special-needs schools, expanding the scope of the problem beyond the School Basic Survey.
- Examples include the School Health Statistics survey, which stopped covering special-needs schools after fiscal 1974, aging assessments of public schools that omitted them, and problem behavior/nonattendance surveys that largely left them out except for bullying counts.
- Document reviews and interviews with about 40 current and former officials confirmed exclusion practices at least as far back as 1971, but investigators could not determine why they began.
- The ministry apologized, attributed the persistence to following precedent and neglect, announced disability-awareness training, will establish an expert panel and seek external advice, and cautioned about sampling limits and added burdens when redesigning inclusive surveys.