With the long period of summer holidays now over or nearly over, a new school semester is starting in Japan. There may be children who find it painful to go back to school. They are advised to bring themselves to confide their worries to adults around them.
Around the date of the opening ceremony for the second semester, there is a tendency every year for the number of suicides by schoolchildren to increase sharply. According to a government survey, the date with the biggest number of suicides by students aged 18 or younger is Sept. 1. Suicides in that age group are also high in late August, which is said to be an effect of the summer holiday period having been shortened in more regions.
In Japan's population as a whole, the number of those who killed themselves last year showed a year-on-year decrease for the eighth straight year, partly due to an upturn in economic conditions. It must be taken seriously that the number of suicides by minors has increased under such circumstances.
The number of recognized bullying cases at elementary, junior and senior high schools totaled a record 320,000 in the 2016 academic year, while cases of truancy have been increasing at elementary and junior high schools.
During the period of summer school holidays when it is hard for teachers to see or reach out to students, problems with peers, such as through the internet, tend to become serious. There seem to be not a few students who become anxious due to the pressure they feel as their school life begins again.
If students do not want to go to school, there is no need for them to push themselves hard. If they reluctantly go to school, they could end up making themselves feel worse.
There are other places where they can find sanctuary. Libraries, children's centers and zoos call on children just after school summer holidays every year "to come here if you don't want to go to school."
Consultation services useful
More important than anything else is for them to tell their painful feelings to trustworthy adults. "Education on How to Issue SOS Signals," a project undertaken by Tokyo's Adachi Ward office, and recommended by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, has attracted attention.
Under the program, public health nurses and others advise in special lessons that if children face difficulties and suffer stress, they should tell adults around them. If they are told about their friends' worries, they are recommended to go to adults together for advice. Similar classes began in the current academic year at elementary, junior and senior high schools in the metropolis, too.
There might be cases in which parents and homeroom teachers, who are supposed to be sensitive to anything unusual with children, fail to lend an ear to them. In such instances, they are advised to persevere in finding people to consult with, including nurse-teachers and school counselors. Consultation services of specialized agencies are also a good resource in this regard.
These lesson contents should be made known to as many children as possible.
One after another, local governments have begun using social media accessible to young people on top of a 24-hour telephone consultation service.
The consultation service of Nagano Prefecture's Board of Education received more than 600 inquiries through the free app LINE in July alone.
Don't take worries all on yourself alone and take good care of yourself -- this is a message that should be clearly and strongly delivered to children.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 25, 2018)
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
