FUKUSHIMA -- Opening ceremonies at public elementary and junior high schools were held on Friday in five municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture. Within those municipalities, the schools are in areas where evacuation orders issued after the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant in March 2011 have been lifted.
The schools are in the towns of Tomioka and Namie, the village of Iitate, the Yamakiya district of the town of Kawamata, and the village of Katsurao.
A total of 135 students, or only 3 percent of the number before the disaster, go to the schools. In each of these municipalities and the district, multiple elementary and junior high schools share the same facility.
Katsurao elementary and junior high school, as well as a kindergarten in the same premises, held a ceremony to mark Friday's reopening of the schools. A total of 22 students entered the school playground through a rainbow-colored archway of artificial flowers.
Local residents greeted them with calls of, "Welcome back!"
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