Never again ! In Japan, the total closure of schools in times of Covid-19 is now excluded. Priority to the continuity of face-to-face learning: at the beginning of February, the government further relaxed the rules linked to the discovery of cases of coronavirus in schools. Rather than closing seven days, the 35,000 public schools in the country are now closing only five days if more than one case is confirmed simultaneously in several classes (each school has a margin of appreciation). The stated goal of the Ministry of Education? “Allow the rapid resumption of classes as soon as possible in order to limit the impact of the epidemic on education”. At the end of January, the rapid spread of the Omicron variant among young people had forced nearly 6,000 schools to keep their doors closed.
Above all, the government does not want to relive the disaster of the general closure imposed at the end of February 2020, at the very beginning of the pandemic, by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. A decision more or less well understood at the time. “I learned the news by listening to the news,” recalls a teacher at a high school in Chiba (east of Tokyo), anxious to remain anonymous like most Japanese officials. “However, we had implemented strict health protocols which worked very well. No scientific study justified this closure. Moreover, no expert recommended it”, continues the young woman. In tune with Reiko Saito, teacher at the Graduate School of Medicine at Niigata University: “Such a measure did not make much sense since the public affected by this disease was mainly aged 50 to 60”.
In a country reluctant to improvise, the episode was very badly experienced. This sudden closure has highlighted the flaws in the school system in terms of distance education. “Nothing was organized. Not having the means to provide online lessons, we had no choice but to save PDF documents on the school’s website. Then call the students so that they download them”, says this teacher of public high school, specialized in the reception of pupils suffering from psychological disorders. “A real test for us. Because communication is at the heart of our teaching,” he continues.
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Contrary to popular belief, young Japanese, although followers of online games and social networks, are not used to using computers as part of their studies. Only 3% of Japanese students use a computer at home to do their homework, compared to an average of 22.2% in the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). And only 6% of them (23% in the OECD) have the reflex to seek information online to feed their work.
The continuation of school programs has therefore proven to be chaotic and uneven, to say the least. Most families have resorted to the D system. “When the school closed, I was not working. So I was able to play teacher in the morning”, explains Tomoko Shimada, mother of three children enrolled in primary school. That didn’t stop her two boys and daughter from “giving in to laziness and the appeal of video games.” “Sensing that they were falling behind, I enrolled them in “juku”, these evening classes popular with families concerned about the academic success of their children.
The number of child victims of violence has doubled
Only 15% of public schools will have online learning systems in place before they reopen between May and June 2020. To catch up, it was necessary to work twice as hard: the summer vacation month was cut in half , lunch breaks as well. During the winter of 2020-2021, the government accelerated the distribution of tablets to students to better cope with the various contamination peaks. He also worked to advance the deployment of his GIGA plan, endowed with 461 billion yen (3.4 billion euros). This was launched in 2018, as part of the “Society 5.0” project aimed at digitizing education from primary to high school.
If the technical and organizational setbacks seem to be resolved, the authorities are struggling to cope with the trauma caused by the school closures. Parents, starting with single mothers, have sometimes had great difficulty in looking after their children, despite the temporary increase in subsidies and the maintenance of the activity of “gakudo”, these clubs which operate after school.
Most young people have suffered from confinement. “I was wondering if I could attend the graduation ceremony at the end of primary school, recalls Kensuke, 14. Then, when I entered middle school, I had a lot of trouble making new friends. .” His mother Sumiko Morita confirms: “Having to stay at home all day destabilized my children a lot. The drastic prevention measures and the obligation to eat lunch in silence did not facilitate their return to class either.”
This loss of bearings led to an increase in absenteeism (+ 8.2% during the 2020 school year, between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021) “Several students were not able to return immediately at school, having got into the habit of sleeping during the day and playing video games at night”, explains a high school principal. When classes resumed, the latter had to contact all the parents concerned himself. Suggesting that they proceed in stages, sending their child only during canteen time at first. Sometimes he even picked up some high school students from their homes.
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Even more tragically, the number of suicides has soared in Japan during the pandemic. Between April 2020 and March 2021, 415 elementary, middle and high school students took their own lives. That is 98 more than the previous year. For Saori Okada, director of the association Wakamano Mental Support – which helps teenagers in pain – “family tensions” are often part of the reasons given. Many employees have been forced to telework from home. The economic difficulties that many of them have faced have contributed to increasing tensions within family homes. “The number of child victims of violence has doubled compared to before the pandemic. Because many of them could no longer benefit from the slightest outside help”, adds Saori Okada. The pandemic will also have highlighted the school’s other mission, which is to detect and help the most vulnerable children. A crucial role.
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