The education ministry has compiled a set of guidelines on measures schools should take during operation to prevent infections, as more reopen following months-long closures amid the coronavirus epidemic.
In the guidelines, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has specified what schools should do regarding issues such as physical distance, lesson content, club activities and the serving of school lunches. The ministry made these guidelines available to boards of education nationwide Friday.
The guidelines urge the boards of education to assess the status of infection in the areas where students live, and using the three ranks used by the central government's panel of experts in the classification of prefectures, create a similar system ranking the risk of infection in order from Level 3 to Level 1 -- Level 3 being the most severe.
In terms of physical distance, schools on Levels 3 and 2 will be required to ensure that children are separated by "roughly 2 meters as much as possible." This means that only about 20 students can study in one classroom, and therefore plans including establishing separate days for each group of children to come to schools must be introduced. If schools are deemed to be Level 1, students can be encouraged to keep a distance of "roughly 1 meter" between each other, allowing up to 40 children to study in one classroom.
Regarding lesson content, the guidelines advise that there is a high risk of infection for students engaging in choral singing, cooking lessons, close-contact exercises and any group activity where children talk to each other. Level 3 schools are discouraged from conducting such activities, while Level 1 schools can offer these classes as normal.
Club activities at Level 3 schools should be allowed as long as they are conducted by either a single student or a small number of students for a short period of time. Level 1 schools will have no restrictions.
School lunches should be simplified for Level 3 schools so that students are not required to distribute food and drinks on their own, meaning that such schools can serve only lunches in a bento boxed meal style, or simply provide bread and milk. Level 2 schools are allowed to gradually bring lunches closer to the normal level, while Level 1 schools can provide meals as usual.
"We'd like to provide students with a school life while taking the appropriate measures to prevent the spread of infections," a ministry official said.
As of May 11, 86% of national, public and private schools were closed nationwide amid the coronavirus epidemic, according to the ministry. The number of schools resuming operation continues to increase after the central government's lifting of the state of emergency for 39 of the nation's 47 prefectures on May 14.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
