Students return to schools in Tokyo after 3-month hiatus

Schools in Tokyo, Hokkaido and the prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama have reopened following the nationwide lifting of the state of emergency over the new coronavirus.

Nearly three months have passed since schools in these areas closed across the board on March 2 at the request of the central government.

Schools around the nation are now restarting under unusual conditions, seeking to make up for delays in schoolwork while taking thorough measures to prevent infection.

At the municipal Arakawa Daisan Nippori Elementary School in Arakawa Ward, Tokyo, cheerful students arrived at the school wearing masks. It was raining slightly, but the opening ceremony was held in the schoolyard to avoid having the children in close proximity. They lined up holding umbrellas, with a certain amount of distance between them.

An 11-year-old girl in the sixth grade said: “Our school year always starts during cherry blossom season, so it’s a little strange. I hope we can take off our masks and play together soon.”

Eighty-four children participated in the school’s entrance ceremony for first-grade students, which was held in a gymnasium, after waiting in six separate classrooms for it to start. Family attendance was limited to two people per household. There were no other guests and most of the other students at the school did not participate.

At the entrance to the municipal Kakio Elementary School in Kawasaki, students submitted their “health checkup cards” containing such information as their temperature taken that morning. Teachers checked students’ physical condition and whether they had masks on.

A hand-washing station that 35 students can use at once has been set up at the municipal Yaguchidai Elementary School in Sagamihara. Teachers and staff at the school crafted a mechanism by making holes in a transparent vinyl hose about 50 centimeters apart.

This is longer than the 35- to 45-centimeter intervals at typical hand wash stations. Water comes out all the holes at once, enabling students to wash their hands without touching a faucet.

At the municipal Kitakujo Elementary School in Sapporo, teachers and other staff will clean classrooms and corridors, a task usually performed by students before the homeroom session prior to their leaving school.

According to the school, the aim is to prevent students from getting close to each other on such occasions as cleaning the floor and wiping things with a dustcloth.

Concern is rising over a potential increase in the number of students committing suicide or becoming truants after schools reopen, as prolonged school closures triggered by the coronavirus epidemic may have had an adverse effect on their emotional states.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has issued a notice to boards of education across the nation and other related bodies, urging them to take thorough measures to prevent the risk of student suicides and truancy, including holding private counseling sessions.

According to the nonprofit organization Childline Support Center Japan, which provides consultation services mainly to junior high and high school students, more than 60% of consultations during the school-closure period were associated with anxiety, with students making such comments as “I’ve lost sight of my goals after the long break from school” and “I’ve been worrying about my future so much that I haven’t been able to focus on my studies.”

Concern has been voiced about such matters as personal relationships in a new environment, with some students saying that they are feeling uneasy about meeting new teachers and classmates.

The member of staff in charge of these consultations pointed out the need for meticulous care for the students, with consideration for each of their circumstances.

“Students will come to school stressed, with fears over the spread of infections after the unprecedented break from school,” the staff member said.

Suicides among people aged 18 or younger tend to steeply rise around the end of summer vacation and spring vacation, according to a Cabinet Office survey.

Over the 42 years up to 2013, 131 children in that age group committed suicide on Sept. 1, the most on one date.

The education ministry’s notice calls for such measures as conducting surveys at schools, holding personal meetings with students and intensive online patrolling by boards of education, to detect early signs of suicide risk.

Regarding comments posted online where children hint at wanting to take their own lives, the notice also refers to a need to cooperate with the police.

It requests school staff to work to find and resolve issues students face such as anxiety over their studies and disrupted rhythms of their daily life, which could lead to school truancy.

Moreover, the notice points to the need to better educate students about the coronavirus to lessen discrimination or bias against others who are not wearing a mask or who are coughing.