This paper aims to analyze the reorganization process of public junior high schools in Tottori Prefecture in the Chugoku region. After World War II, new junior high schools were established in many municipalities by the reform of the school education system. But many of these were consolidated as the great Showa mergers period took place in the middle of 1950s. The Tottori Prefectural Board of Education encouraged shared schools with a couple of municipalities in order to maintain ideal school size that was more than 600 students per school. A consolidation of junior high schools was nearly completed in the early stages of the 1970s, no major changes in school numbers have been seen in the following years.
This paper aims to analyze the transitions in pupil numbers and resulting school closures. From 1959 to 1973 the sharp decline in the number of children resulted in the amalgamation and reorganization of schools apace. Between 1974 and 1982 pupil numbers increased and a number of new schools were established. But after that pupil numbers started to decrease again. As the major merging of municipalities took place from 2000 to 2010, many schools shut down. We classified municipalities into 7 types determined by the fluctuation of the number of pupils and schools in them and analyzed characteristics of the types.
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