The government has announced its final plan to reform the Science Council of Japan, the country's leading academic body.

Economic Revitalization Minister Goto Shigeyuki, who is in charge of the matter, made the announcement at a news conference on Tuesday.

Japan's Science and Technology Policy Minister Inoue Shinji says the government plans to decide its policy on the country's leading academic body by the year-end.

Inoue was speaking to reporters after he received reform proposals for the Science Council of Japan from the main governing Liberal Democratic Party on Friday.

Japanese junior high school students are improving their scores in mathematics while elementary school students' scores in science are declining.

An international survey called "Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study," or TIMSS, is released every four years by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement based in the Netherlands.

Six Japanese scholars have accused the government of breaking a law by rejecting them as members of the country's top academic body.

Four of the scholars held a news conference on Friday at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Tokyo. Two of them attended via video link.

The minister in charge of the Science Council of Japan has met the head of the academic body, following the prime minister's recent refusal to appoint six nominees as new members.

Science and Technology Policy Minister Inoue Shinji and Science Council of Japan President Kajita Takaaki met in Tokyo on Friday morning.

Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has held talks with the president of the Science Council of Japan, Kajita Takaaki. The chief of the leading academic body handed Suga a written request asking for an explanation of his refusal to appoint six nominees as new members and calling for their appointment.

Suga and Kajita held talks for about 15 minutes at the prime minister's office on Friday afternoon. They exchanged opinions on the role of the council going forward.

Japan's main governing Liberal Democratic Party has begun debate on how the Science Council of Japan, the country's top academic body, should be organized.

A working group of the LDP met on Wednesday to discuss Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide's refusal to appoint six new members to the council. The six candidates were among those recommended by the body for membership.

Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has explained more about the government's decision last week to reject six candidates for the Science Council.

On Friday, he said a list of nominees he received did not include those who were rejected. He stressed the procedure has been completed, and that he does not intend to reconsider.

Japanese lawmakers have asked the government why the prime minister refused to appoint six nominees recommended by a leading academic organization as new members.

The Science Council of Japan is made up of 210 members whose terms last six years. Half of them are replaced with new members every three years. The council is an independent body, but its members are special national government employees.

Four opposition parties in Japan are urging the government to explain in the Diet why it did not appoint six scholars as members of the Science Council of Japan.

The Diet affairs chiefs of the four parties met on Monday to discuss the issue. The parties are the Constitutional Democratic Party, the Japanese Communist Party, the Democratic Party for the People and the Social Democratic Party.

The Science Council of Japan has decided to ask Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide to explain why he refused to appoint six people as new members of the leading academic body, and renew its request for their appointment.

The council is designated as a special organization under the jurisdiction of the prime minister, but makes policy proposals independently from the government.

The Science Council of Japan plans to ask the government to explain why it refused to appoint six people as new members of the leading academic body, and renew its request for their appointment.

The council on Friday decided to make the request after Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide did not appoint six of the 105 nominees, who would have joined the council from Thursday if they were approved.

The Science Council of Japan says it wants Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide to explain why he refused to appoint some of its nominated candidates. It has also decided to repeat its call for their appointment.

The council is designated as a special organization under the jurisdiction of the prime minister. It makes policy proposals independently from the government.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu says the prime minister has jurisdiction over the Science Council of Japan, and that his appointments were made legally.

Kato said at a news conference on Friday that regulatory reforms have been made so that the council can conduct its activities with a comprehensive view through which it's not bound by achievements in fields of expertise.