5 local governments in Japan reopen schools on May 7
It was revealed that only five municipalities in Japan, including Iwate, Tottori prefectures, reopened schools on May 7, The Yomiuri Shimbun found in a survey. These five are out of the 98 local governments in Japan – which consist of prefectures and cities with a prefectural office.
With schools closed nationwide due to the new coronavirus, more than 60%, or 63 local governments, are expected to continue school closings until May 31, the deadline for the state of emergency.
In the survey, The Yomiuri Shimbun asked the 98 local governments, including 47 prefectural governments that have jurisdiction over high schools and 46 cities that have a prefectural government office and ordinance-designated with jurisdiction over primary and junior high schools, about when they will reopen schools. The five municipalities reopening schools on Thursday are Iwate, Aomori, Tottori prefectures and Morioka, Tottori cities. Of the total, 11 local governments, mainly in the Tohoku and Kyushu regions, said schools will be closed until May 10; while 29 local governments of special alert prefectures like Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka, said schools will remain closed until May 31.
The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has called for schools to be reopened in stages while reducing the risk of infection. One example of this is splitting the number of children attending school at one time.
The ministry plans to give priority to sixth-grade primary school students and third-grade junior high school students who are about to graduate or take entrance exams, and first-grade primary school students who need to get used to school life as soon as possible. As for the classes, the ministry proposed postponing the cooking practice class and the chorus of music class.
Photo: Children attend class with windows open for ventilation at Chikuhoku Primary School in Nagano Prefecture, on May 7.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
