Nearly 99% of public elementary, junior high schools close
Of the elementary, junior high and high schools urged to simultaneously close, in an effort to prevent the further spread of the new strain of coronavirus, nearly 99% of public elementary and junior high schools have carried out such measures.
Nearly half of those schools have closed for three to four weeks, according to data compiled by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry on Wednesday.
Throughout Japan, 28,380 public elementary and junior high schools were surveyed, and as of Wednesday at 8 a.m., 28,047, or 98.8%, were closed or were scheduled to close. The percentage of schools that started closures on March 2, the day urged by the government, was 53.5%, while 25.1% started on March 3 and 3.5% started on March 5 or later. The percentage of schools that are closing for three to four weeks is 50.1%, while 23.1% are closing for two to three weeks and 18.7% are closing for less than two weeks.
Of prefectural high schools, excluding the 35 schools in Shimane Prefecture, 3,314 have implemented this measure, and 869 prefectural special-needs schools have been closed, excluding the 48 in Shimane and Saitama prefectures. All of the 154 national elementary, junior high and high schools have closed, along with 1,754 private elementary, junior high and high schools nationwide.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
