the following is an excerpt from the NHK easy article: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10012946031000/k10012946031000.html
そして、災害に強い町にするためにどうしたらいいか、生徒が自分で考えるようになっています
DeepL translates the sentence as:
The students are then encouraged to think for themselves about what they can do to make their town more resilient to disasters.
I understand that ようになる is used when referring to a change in state (or ability, if potential form +ようになる). However, I don't really understand how 考えるようになっています is equivalent to "encouraged to think". Is the sense of "encouragement" coming from the fact that the grammar form is in the continuous っている? - i.e. active/continuous entering into a state of thinking (literal)?
Hope this makes sense :s
EDIT: it appears ようになっている is supposed to mean something along the lines of "designed to do" - if so, this makes more sense - can anyone confirm?
