Schoolchildren, parents joining Japan's fight to contain coronavirus epidemic

February 28, 2020



Schoolchildren, parents joining Japan's fight to contain coronavirus epidemic

Japanese people find themselves buoyant with the advent of spring around this time of the year. March is one of the brightest times for most people living in Japan, but the situation for them has proved to be quite different this year.
Japanese government officials have been busy taking steps to contain the new coronavirus epidemic, which broke into Japan early February after causing thousands of people in China to contract the fatal disease from December to January.
Japan's shoreline operations against the epidemic failed as a luxury cruse chip with over 3,700 passengers and crewmen entered Yokohama Port February 7 without a sufficient quarantine, after carrying an infected passenger from Japan to Hong Kong.
Japan's fight against the covid19, the virus so named by the WHO, culminated in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's call for closing elementary schools and junior and senior high schools across Japan from early to late March, in an effort to keep the epidemic from spreading among pupils and students.
The action triggered moves among school officials and parents across the country to prepare an environment for children and students to study and spend their time out of school. 
Most influenced by the action are parents both of whom have jobs. The situation is said to be even more serious for single mothers. Groups of such mothers in some areas wasted no time to talk to each other about ways to take care of their children by turn.
At an elementary school in the southern part of Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, schoolchildren rushed out to the school grounds for a play time after lunch. They appeared to have no information as yet about exactly when the school is to be closed.
One boy said, "Don't know well, but the head teacher's just gone to meet somebody. So said an upper class kid."
Schoolkids seemed generally careless spending their time, despite their parents' concerns about what to do with their daily life ahead.
Nursery schools and after-school nursing facilities are exempt from the action for closing schools. This is expected to lead working mothers and others in a similar situation to flock to places which can take care of children while the schools are closed.