TV goes to school
When television broadcasting first started in Japan, 15 minutes per day was devoted to schools broadcasts for classroom viewing. A science program, Liquid Air, was a special landmark. It enabled students to watch experiments that would be hard to carry out in the classroom, and demonstrated the enormous potential of television as an educational medium.
NHK's Educational TV channel was launched in January 1959. From April of that year, 35 schools programs were broadcast per week, accounting for two hours and 15 minutes of programming per day. Science Class led the way, offering grade-specific programming for students between the ages of about 10 and 15. Junior high school English and elementary school social studies soon followed on the same model. Schools all over Japan swiftly adopted this televised curriculum after the release of 17-inch screen TV sets with front-mounted speakers and lockable folding doors.

Learning for everyone
In April 1963, NHK began regular broadcasts of high school correspondence course programming targeted at working youth, housewives and the elderly. Classes delivered by TV became an important means of learning for students studying for their high school diploma while also holding a job. NHK Gakuen, Japan's first correspondence high school for people living anywhere in the nation, also opened that year. In the 40 years since then, more than 50,000 people have earned their high school diploma through NHK Gakuen's correspondence courses.

In the vanguard
By around the mid-1970's, more than 95% of Japan's elementary and 50% of its junior and senior high schools were tuning in to schools broadcasts. In response to a controversy about curricular diversity, then being discussed by the National Diet's Education Council, NHK began to explore different content for schools broadcasts. Newly created programs addressed environmental and life-study themes that transcended conventional subject boundaries. In terms of their aim, these programs were a precursor of today's "Period for Integrated Study" at schools, which is itself driving the development of various new schools programs.

Digital educational contents
As the 80's turned into the 90's, research on the use of computers in education blossomed. In 1998, NHK launched the environmental education program Internet School: Only One Earth, making use of the Internet for interactive learning. According to plans laid out by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), by the end of 2005 every classroom in every one of Japan's 40,000-plus public schools will have broadband Internet access. Nowadays, classes draw frequently on the information resources of the Internet. So from 2001, NHK began providing digital learning materials on its website, including programs and short video clips. NHK's digital learning material has won plaudits around the world. The program Eigorian, which helps third- and fourth-grade elementary school pupils learn English, was awarded the Prix Italia in September 2002.