Photo/Illutration Children take a National Assessment of Academic Ability test at an elementary school in Tokyo on April 18. (Pool)

Despite outperforming their male counterparts in math and science assessment tests, fewer elementary and junior high school girls than boys reported enjoying these subjects, according to a survey. 

Findings from the National Assessment of Academic Ability, an annual survey of elementary school sixth-graders and third-year junior high school students across Japan, were released during an education ministry expert panel meeting on May 16.

“Girls are losing interest in math and science as early as elementary school,” said Taketo Tabata, a Miyagi University of Education graduate school professor who helped analyze the results, during the meeting.

“To achieve gender equality, we need to call for a change in the perception of science and mathematics on the front lines of school education,” Tabata said.

The analysis of the 2022 school year assessment included a report on the correlation between correct answer rates in a subject and attitudes toward that subject.

When the 2022 school year survey asked students if they “like studying science,” 82.9 percent of sixth-grade boys reported “Yes” or “Yes, to a certain extent,” while 76.6 percent of sixth-grade girls said the same—6.3 percentage points lower.

The gap widened among the third-year junior high school students, as 73.9 percent of boys reported liking science, but only 58.8 percent of the girls did—more than 15 percentage points lower.

In the subject of mathematics, the trend was similar. 

Among both sixth-grade elementary school students and third-year junior high school students, girls trailed boys in the percentage that said they liked studying math.

However, assessments of aptitude did not show this same disparity.

A study on aptitude in the school subject of science also included data from surveys taken in the 2012, 2015 and 2018 school years, in addition to the 2022 school year assessment.

In all the assessments, girls achieved higher correct rates on average than boys did, both among elementary school sixth-graders and third-year junior high school students (except in the 2015 school year survey of sixth-graders, for which no gender-specific data is available).

The same trend was found regarding the school subject of mathematics.

However, these differences in correct answer rates between genders were not substantial, officials said.

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