Twelve middle school students, chosen from among registered users of the assistance and seen facing certain risks pertaining to acquiring meals in Adachi Ward, Tokyo, were invited on March 3 to Katariba, an NPO operating facilities for children of families in relative poverty or other domestic hardships, to have dinner. Of them, 10 attended, with six of the 10 telling staff that it was their "first meal on the day."
"Because that day was only a few days after the government's announcement of nationwide school closures, the children's sleep schedules should not have been so disrupted. But they lacked proper meals," Daisuke Kaga, Katariba's director said.
While many nonprofit organizations and groups offer "kodomo shokudo," meal services and learning assistance activities for children, they have had to temporarily close or discontinue their operations under the prolonged outbreak of the new coronavirus. Katariba, however, have daringly decided to remain open its facilities in the ward.
Funded by the ward office, Katariba operates two facilities -- Adachi Base Central and Adachi Base North. Both have remained open, though the criteria of the middle school students allowed to enter have been narrowed down.
Before the government's declaration of state of emergency in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, the NPO decided to keep their facilities open in order to offer learning assistance to middle school students.
Kaga explained the reason for this decision was it was urgently necessary for third-year middle school students who failed to pass the first-stage of entrance exams to enroll in high schools run by the Tokyo metropolitan government.
"The students were preparing to sit for the second-stage of the entrance exams which would be their last chance to enrolling in high school. Due to family circumstances, they could only sit for the exams for local government-run high schools," he said.
In Japan, it's common that those who take entrance exams for enrollment in public high schools also apply for the entrance exams of privately run high schools, as a means of ensuring their enrollment. However, private high schools are more expensive and middle school students who may not have the option of applying to them because their families are unable to pay the higher tuition fees would be unable to enroll in high school should they fail the second-stage of the entrance exam.
After the outbreak escalation since the government's nationwide school closure request to the more recent declaration of state of emergency, the Adachi Base facilities also had to change how things were done.
After the state of emergency was declared, Katariba narrowed down the criteria of middle school students allowed to enter the Adachi Base facilities to those whom the NPO regarded as lacking in the amounts or qualities of their daily meals.
The meal provisions also had to be changed. Before the outbreak, a large number of middle school students were served freshly made meals prepared by volunteers and ate together within the relaxed atmosphere of the Adachi Base facilities.
Now, only boxed meals are being provided to a limited number of students and they are required to eat at home.
At the same time, the Adachi Base staff were forced to ask its registered student users not facing such dire risks to refrain from coming to the facilities for the time being. While some of them smoothly accepted it, others expressed disappointment or surprise. There was a feeling of heartache among the NPO staff.
Kaga, however, said the negative reactions reaffirmed his feelings that Katariba's aid and assistance is both necessary and wanted.
"As is typical for children in their adolescence, words of gratitude hadn't been directly shared with us until then. I regarded their words and feelings of disappointment as evidence that what we do has been helpful for them in some way."
The point that causes much anxiety for the Katariba staff is that an unintended consequence of this ordeal is that their bonds with the students would be severed, due to so many middle school students being asked by Katariba to refrain from entering the Adachi Base facilities.
"If an infection occurs here, we would have to completely shut down our facilities, which means that it would become impossible for our aid and assistance to reach the children," Kaga said.
In an effort to prevent the negative consequence, Katariba urgently leased a total of 100 tablets and WiFi routers, and lent them to all the students free of charge.
Utilizing this technology, the Katariba staff have also offered online learning assistance and teleconference consultations to the students unable come to the facilities.
As a result, the total number of registered student users who come to Adachi Base facilities either to receive boxed meals or receive online learning assistance in this March has not decreased from the number recorded in March of last year.
When the NPO made the decision to keep Adachi Base facilities open, even after the state of emergency began, parents of the students greatly appreciated their efforts. Working single-parents in particular have expressed their gratitude to the staff, Kaga said.
However, for the staff, keeping these facilities open, even partially, is not an easy task in the midst of the ongoing outbreak.
Needless to say, hand washing, gargling, the use of sanitizing agents and daily body temperature measurements are required by both the students and staff. Katariba also "prohibits" its staff from commuting to via public transportation.
"The staff in the Adachi Base facilities are entirely made up of Adachi Ward residents and so they can commute on foot or by bicycle. Though we can't order our staff not to take risky actions during their private time, I believe they have strictly restrained from such deeds," Kaga said.
The NPO's online assistance looks highly suitable to the current social situation where working remotely and remote education are being praised and recommended.
However, Kaga warns that online technology is not a silver bullet for the children in need. After commencing online assistance with the mobile devices, Adachi Base staff have noticed that providing the devices alone cannot resolve all of the students' problems.
Among those who received the mobile devices from Katariba, some had yet to log into the service. When asked the reason, they cited various obstacles, such as not having a room of their own, the inside of their homes being a mess or being unable to find a quiet place to study due to their noisy siblings.
Even among those utilizing the online learning assistance program, one had to study in a rest area of a nearby supermarket using its Wi-Fi connection to escape such situation at home.
"For children with difficult family environments, 'Stay at home' is a terrible phrase," Kaga said.
To diminish the additional hardship of the children trapped in this dual emergency, others with the ability should consider what they can do to help the situation.
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