Dramatic increase in the number of students accepted to Tokyo University and prestigious universities abroad…! The special circumstances of the rapid growth of Shibuya Gakuen Shibuya and Hiroo, three high-profile schools that have become co-educational schools from all-girls schools.

The number of students accepted to the University of Tokyo and Waseda University increased rapidly

0 → 2, 2 → 44

0 to 9, 0 to 129

2→43, 35→136

Above is a comparison of the acceptance records of the three fastest-growing private schools in Tokyo 20 years ago (’04) and this year. On the left is the University of Tokyo and on the right is Waseda University. You can see that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of students accepted at each of these schools. The schools listed from the top are Mita International School (Setagaya-ku, Tokyo; hereafter Mita Kokusai Gakuen), Hirokoji School (Setagaya-ku, Tokyo; hereafter Mita Kokusai Gakuen), and Hirokoji School (Tokyo). (Setagaya-ku, Tokyo; hereafter, Mita International), Hiroo Gakuen (Minato-ku, Tokyo; hereafter, Hiroo), and Shibuya Kyoiku. The three schools listed from the top are Mita International School (Setagaya-ku, Tokyo; hereafter Hiroo), Hiroo Gakuen (Minato-ku, Tokyo; hereafter Hiroo), and Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen Shibuya (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; hereafter Shibushi). (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; hereafter referred to as Shibushi).

Mr. Nobuyasu Morigami, director of the Morigami Education Research Institute and an expert on junior high school entrance examinations, explains.

What all three schools have in common is that they were originally girls’ schools. Mita International was called Toita Girls’ School, Hiroo was called Junshin Girls’ School, and Shibushi was called Shibuya Girls’ School. All of them changed their names to their current names between the 1990s and the 1990s. The results of these schools increased rapidly after they became co-educational.

Mr. Morigami continued, “There are special circumstances behind the rapid growth.

The majority of schools in Tokyo are single-sex schools. It was Mr. Tetsuo Tamura, the headmaster of Shibuyuki, who created a new field of ‘co-educational advancement schools’ in this era of gender equality. His father was the late Kunio Kunio, founder of Tamura Gakuen, which operated the Meguro Commercial School for Girls and other schools.

After Kunio’s death, Tetsuo became the head of Shibuyoshi. He was a brilliant man who went on to study law at the University of Tokyo from Azabu, one of the top three boys’ schools. He first made Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen Makuhari (“Shibumaku”) in Chiba Prefecture a success, and then modeled it after it by making Shibuya Girls a co-ed school, which was a great success.

Tetsuo has been launching new educational policies rapidly. He actively accepted returnees as an incentive to other students, and he made sure that students were encouraged to “think for themselves” by acknowledging diverse values.

A syllabus that systematized what kind of growth students could expect over the six years of integrated junior and senior high school was distributed, and the path was clearly defined by working backward from the goal. Many families are so impressed with the education at Shibumaku and Shibutsu that they send all their siblings to these schools.

Shibusu is active in international education. The internationalization of the school is said to have been the key to the success of Mita International and Hiroo.

Mita International and Hiroo do not only aim to prepare students for the most prestigious universities in Japan, such as Tokyo University and Kyoto University, but also to prepare them for higher education abroad. Our students go on to higher education abroad. Our students have been accepted into prestigious universities around the world, including Princeton University in the United States and Durham University in the United Kingdom.

We have established a course of study that prepares students for overseas universities from the time they enter the school. Classes and tests are conducted in English, and we actively cooperate with overseas schools to send international students. Students can also take the Common Achievement Examination for students who wish to enter universities in the United States.

Yoga and Hiroo, where both schools are located, are surrounded by many families who send their children to international and American schools. By pushing internationalization to the forefront, the schools have gained popularity among the brightest children in the neighborhood.

The school’s performance in advancing students to universities overseas has resulted in a synergistic effect that has led to a significant increase in the number of students entering difficult universities in Japan. The ability to enter prestigious universities not only in Japan but also overseas must be a big attraction for parents,” said Mr. Morigami.

Mita International and Hiroo continue to grow in terms of their academic achievements, and Shibusu is beginning to surpass the top three male and female schools in Japan. The day may soon come when “coeducational preparatory schools” become Japan’s top school.