Feb 27, 2020
Schools in Japan to close amidst coronavirus - who's affected?
With schools across Japan to close from Monday I was wondering if it might be good to start a Q&A thread about it. The closures are unlikely to affect me directly but people who work close me, being parents, will have to make adjustments and I'd be interested to hear if there are any ALTs out there and how this will play out for them. Rants, raves, concerns, stories, opinions ... maybe this could be a good place to air any concerns and share info.
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on Feb 27
It's likely my daughters will be out of school but I'm wondering about my son's kindergarten. No need from them. Also my eldest's graduation is likely cancelled but she is happy. Honestly me too. 3 hours sitting in awful chairs homes me a migraine. I'm worried about my husband's work though. He isn't part of the schools, but his job relies on materials from China. All of this is going to have serious economic effects
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on Feb 27
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on Feb 28
@Tomuu sorry about the typos. Yeah, the only thing they were worried about happens today. The farewell party that everyone has probably been prepping for weeks for. Parents were allowed to go but are now excluded. Not sure if that's good or bad. My daughter didn't want me to go yet asked me to go so.... Now there isn't debate. They are old enough though that getting a long spring break changes nothing for me. I'm curious about my son. I send him to kindergarten because some days my health makes it hard to care for him. The kindergarten is more of a business so I bet until they are explicitly told to a stop they will keep it going.
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on Feb 28
My husband and I have been talking so much about this since it was announced. Our biggest concern (aside from the virus, of course) is that these sweeping kids stay at home mandates are going to push Japan back into the "well, women should stay at home to care for the kids and shouldn't be working anyway" mindset. This all really sucks, to be honest. I'm trying so hard not to get disheartened and stressed by it all, but I feel like it's going to get worse before it gets better. Impacts on health, the economy, events, schools, society's functioning...a lot of people are being affected by this, even if it's indirect.
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on Feb 28
I walked into the office today and none of the teachers have any idea what is going to happen yet. We are all waiting to hear from the BOE. My company thinks that teachers might still be required to go, which would really suck because I would have nothing to do. I am really curious what is going to happen.
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on Feb 28
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on Feb 28
@ReishiiTravels it's just all so depressing right now, isn't it? I'm trying not to read the news, but it's like trying to insulate yourself in a box. People here are talking about it non stop, too - so even if you tune out the news, you'd have to almost completely isolate yourself from people to not hear everyone's concerns. One of the biggest problems to me is that I don't really understand how the symptoms of it work. From what I've read, some people who have had the coronavirus have been asymptomatic. Some have said it's just like a mild cold. Others have said bad cold, or bad flu, and then there's the hospitalized folks. How do people know they have it, then?!! I feel like I have a moderate cold for half the year since my kids are little...my youngest is 2 and doesn't fully grasp the concept of covering when he sneezes! Imagine the flood on hospitals and doctors offices if everyone with a cold thought it was coronavirus! But then, imagine having the coronavirus, assuming it was just a cold, and spreading it all over the place! I would HATE to be a public official right now having to make decisions about all of this.
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on Feb 28
As a part time ALT, we're waiting to hear if the school will in fact close for the remainder of the school year. The school trip was already moved to Nagasaki instead of Okinawa. I know most staff will continue working through the busiest season in the school year regardless of students' absence. In the midst of planning for the new school year, this must be a pain for everyone, at least indirectly. On the other hand, if students can get out of year end testing, they might be overjoyed. I wonder how effective it will be as all the businesses like Eikaiwa type schools will likely stay open.
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on Feb 28
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on Feb 28
I am waiting anxiously to hear. Other schools in the prefecture the BOE sent out official notice, but our town - nada. This morning the kindy encho sensei said he's as much in the dark as we are - no sort of direction or official notice from the Government. They are a private kindy so they may have to make the decision on their own. Truly surreal times.
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on Feb 28
Private high school teacher in Saitama Pref. here. We essentially shut down when we dismissed students from homeroom today. We're out until the last week of March, but that's also a tentative plan. I'll be preparing at home in anticipation for the 2020 school year starting in April. It's sad that our junior high 3rd grade will not have a graduation ceremony, and our strong clubs, award winning ones, cannot meet for the duration of the shut down. The uncertainty about what's going to happen, economic impact, and the social toll (with parents scrambling to make contingency plans) are the biggest worries.
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on Feb 28
Our daughter's preschool just sent out a memo, stating that any child who has been out of the country and returned to Japan can't come to school for two weeks...which is a little ironic since most countries in the world currently are trailing Japan's coronavirus numbers by far! Doesn't seem like some of these policies are being thought through all that well...
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on Feb 28
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on Feb 29
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on Feb 29
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on Feb 29
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on Mar 1
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on Mar 1
In our city in Fukuoka Prefecture, not only elementary-high schools will close starting on March 9th. They've also decided to close the yochien, but not the day care type houikuen. My school is national and closed on Feb. 28th. I'm curious what will happen to the salaries of ALTs based on what the BOEs pay for no lessons. I'm lucky that I have other work that is still happening as of now, but some local eikaiwa are also closing. I hear teachers are instructing students that group settings like juku and clubs are prohibited. Some students are so sad that they have free time but can't get together with their friends. Libraries and museums are all closed, so I think everyone will be playing games and watching TV a lot this month. Rumors have been super annoying! In our city there was a rumor that covid-19 patients are here (not true) plus the social media lies about paper product shortages are causing hoarding.
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on Mar 1
@helloalissa - I think that Abe said during his press conference on Saturday that his gov't plans to provide financial support to those whose work / income is affected by the school closures whether they are part-time or the full seishain. If this is the case (and my understanding of things is correct) then it will be interesting to see if this support (in whatever form it takes) is extended to foreign teachers / ALTs.
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on Mar 2
@helloalissa the rumors/panic are the most frustrating part about this whole situation! Plenty of supermarkets here are already cleared out of toilet paper and tissues - it's wild. We already have an emergency kit in the case of a natural disaster, so I'm not going nuts about this. One case in Niigata that I'm aware of so far, and by people's actions you'd think it was every second person who had it!
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on Mar 2
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on Mar 3
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on Mar 4
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on Mar 6
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on Mar 7
I work as a part-time teacher in a kindergarten in Saitama and our school cancelled all classes for the whole month of March. All teacher trainings scheduled on March-April have also been cancelled. On the other hand, my son's kindergarten (also in Saitama) still holds classes until March 13th. Their school, however, assured us parents that it is safe to bring the kids there and that they are observing precautionary measures against the spread of Covid-19. Children with cough, fever or are not feeling are discouraged to attend school. Really hoping this epidemic ends soon and that everything gets back to normal.
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on Mar 9
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on Mar 10
@Tomuu Hey, we’ve actually been updated and Yokohama has no more classes until spring break. It seems most schools will still have a graduation at least, but I’m not sure if they’ll invite parents, I know other cities will be only teachers. ALTs are required to come in and organize and prep for next year. But since lesson plans and materials will change for next year, I think it’s pretty hard to prep and I’m personally focusing on organizing the school’s English materials.
27 Answers