As a Tokyo Paralympics wheelchair rugby match was played Wednesday afternoon at Yoyogi National Stadium, a total of about 50 fourth-year students and teachers from Oshukan Secondary School watched from the stands while sitting spaced apart.
Students at this metropolitan government-run junior high and high school in Meguro Ward have developed a keen interest in para-sports. Starting four years ago, the school has invited para-athletes to address the students and given students opportunities to try Paralympic sports such as boccia.
The students and teachers traveled to the stadium in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, on three chartered buses to ensure they avoided congested public transport, a move intended to help prevent the novel coronavirus from spreading. They also had their temperatures taken and disinfected their hands with sanitizer before boarding the buses.
"Being able to watch para-athletes who have overcome their disabilities will probably stay with the students for the rest of their lives," Vice Principal Akira Takahashi said.
Competition at the Tokyo Paralympics, which started that day, will be held at venues in Tokyo and three nearby prefectures -- Chiba, Saitama and Shizuoka. Although all venues will ostensibly be free of general spectators, a program under which schoolchildren could attend certain events has been approved. On Wednesday, students watched some of the events in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture. However, the recent surge in coronavirus cases across Japan has prompted many local authorities to make the difficult choice to drop plans to participate in the program.
The Paralympics embrace the principle of promoting understanding about diversity and social inclusion. Believing that enabling children to directly see and get involved in Paralympic events will have significant educational benefits, the metropolitan government has since the 2016 academic year promoted education about the Olympics and Paralympics to deepen understanding of these principles. Measures have included interactions with athletes and events where students can try some of the sports.
Watching competitions at the Paralympics could be considered the culmination of that effort.
"I hope parents and guardians will listen to their children's feelings and then decide whether they will take part" in the school-viewing program, said Shibuya Ward Mayor Ken Hasebe. Schoolchildren from the ward will attend events.
-- Many schools pulling out
However, as the Paralympics approached, concerns about the program intensified.
At an extraordinary meeting of the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education on Aug. 18, all four of the five members who attended expressed opposition to the program. The metropolitan government proposed that students would be shuttled between school and event venues by bus, and on Monday suggested that students participating in the program would take PCR tests.
This move backfired. Koto Ward Mayor Takaaki Yamazaki decided Tuesday that students of the schools run by his ward would not attend.
"It would defeat the purpose of the program if a student becomes infected and can't participate, and they end up being bullied, discriminated against or having their human rights violated in some other way," Yamazaki said. Minato Ward also announced Wednesday that it was pulling out of the program.
Four local authorities in the Tokyo area are participating -- Shinjuku, Shibuya and Suginami wards, and Hachioji city. Just over 20,000 students from 121 schools in those municipalities, plus 489 students from six metropolitan government-run schools will attend competition events.
Initially, about 810,000 students and children had been scheduled to spectate at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. "Now that figure is barely 20,000," a Tokyo education board official lamented. "I feel empty inside."
Two schools from Saitama Prefecture were intending to send students to watch the action, but one, a prefectural special needs school, has withdrawn. Since the latest coronavirus state of emergency was declared, all schools from Shizuoka Prefecture slated to participate have pulled out.
Initially, about 24,500 children from 167 elementary, junior high and other schools in Chiba City planned to join the program. However, apparently because of concerns over the spike in coronavirus cases, just 468 children went Wednesday to the city's Makuhari Messe Hall, where wheelchair fencing is among the sports being contested.
As of Wednesday, the number of municipalities where the school-viewing program will go ahead had dwindled to just 11 cities, wards and towns.
-- Paralympic legacy
The wave of municipalities canceling these viewing opportunities also has raised major questions about how the legacy of the Olympics and Paralympics can be handed down to future generations.
At a press conference Sunday, a senior official of the International Paralympic Committee said the school viewing program had been one of the great legacies of the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. However, a public relations official of one sports organization had mixed feelings about going ahead with such a program at the Tokyo Paralympics.
"Our organization wants people to watch athletes in action while they represent their nation," the official said. "But given the current situation, I can't tell people that they should come to the competition venues."
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