Gakken Holdings and MysticLand in School will launch a pilot of KOKORO, a moral education program they jointly developed, for approximately 1,500 fifth-grade elementary school students at 10 private schools in India from October 2026.
Based on expertise in Japanese moral education, MysticLand redesigned the KOKORO DOTOKU pilot classes to reflect Indian culture and values and has begun offering them at local private schools.
The pilot is aimed at fifth-grade elementary school students and incorporates experiential learning, in which students think for themselves about the feelings and actions of characters in 2 short stories and discuss them with their friends. Drawing on the Japanese concept of special activities, the program leaves it to the children to set individual and class goals for applying what they learn to their daily behaviour.
Gakken Holdings and MysticLand entered into a business partnership in 2026 and are developing KOKORO by combining Japanese educational design with MysticLand's content development capabilities in the Indian market. Pilot classes will be conducted from October through the end of December 2026 to assess their acceptance and feasibility in schools.
Against the backdrop of India's National Education Policy 2020, demand for experiential and practical learning is growing, as is interest in Japanese moral education. The companies aim to expand the program to multiple grades and schools in the future.
Going forward, the companies will deepen cooperation with local partners and build the business over the long term based on the pilot results.