Those on the ground in Japan: what COVID precautions is your school taking?

10 comments

1. I’m in Osaka. Schools are 100% open and in-person. Masks are required but you know how kids are, they definitely don’t wear them perfectly or all the time. They still eat lunch together with no masks but they’re also not supposed to talk during that time. No desk shields or regular covid testing. I’ve seen a few staff randomly checking the temperatures of students but it’s definitely not systematic or anything and some schools I’ve never seen it.

   In terms of other precautions, windows are supposed to be cracked open, which wasn’t very pleasant in the heat of the summer and I imagine won’t be great in the winter. I haven’t heard anything about any proof of vaccination or any mandate yet but maybe I missed that news. Some club activities were cancelled but sports days are moving ahead as usual. We’re encouraged not to do group work but still do sometimes. We’re also not supposed to do any singing.

   This is just my experience. I work at a few schools and even within these schools, there are huge differences in policies between schools. Other ALTs in my same city have similar, very different experiences so I imagine in other cities and prefectures there are even more different reports of how they’re dealing with the situation.

2. At our son’s primary school in Tokyo, the first week of school had half the class in person and the other half on line on alternating days. From the second week, it’s been all in person. All children wear mask, talking is not allowed during lunch, and parents have to report kids’ temperatures, general condition, and so on via an app or by telephone (I think) an hour before school begins.

   I’m involved as a teacher at 5 universities:

   * Two are only on line (one university having decided in March 2021 and the other in late August).
   * One is ostensibly on line and in person in alternating weeks, but all online at the instructors’ discretion.
   * Another had been scheduled for in-person classes but changed all of September to on line. No decision about October and later has been announced.
   * The last is (going to be) in person with classes in rooms with at least twice as many seats as students, dividers between students, and masks required. Students are allowed to opt out of in-person classes, so all teachers will be required to make provision for simultaneous or near-simultaneous distance classes. Annoyingly, teachers will not be allowed to ask sick students to stay home or inquire whether they’ve been vaccinated or checked for COVID-19.

3. Not much

4. No precautions other than dont get the virus or you won’t have a job.

5. Masks, hand washing encouraged, windows open, seats distanced.

   I think my schools are doing as much as they can. But there’s really no way around it. If one kid comes to school with Covid, everyone is screwed. Kids can’t social distance properly. It’s hard to get kids to not act like kids.

6. I heard from my boss that it’s probably not possible until next year sometime to start hiring but he could be lying.

   Shiga, In Person, Masks only with 5 people per lesson and windows open. Students 3-7 don’t understand that masks stay on and shouldn’t be taken off.

7. Its been a complete shit-show from start to finish. First they sent everyone home for 3 months, then when they came back they split the classes into two. Then at the start of this year, they’ve been making kids log-in online as this academic year has been the grand opening of the fabled GIGA school Program, so every kid has a Chromebook they take home with them.

   Everything is online now. Half go to school, half don’t and those that don’t, log-in through Google Meet. All the school events have been cancelled as well. The kids at my school haven’t had a chorus concert in 2 years, nor any English language events. When you consider their time at the school is only 3 years, that is very sad. I feel really sorry for them.

   Face-masks are still mandatory outside the teacher’s room, even if you’re fully vaccinated. Desk shields are used for the science classes and some other stuff where they have to face-each other.

   I honestly wouldn’t bother coming to Japan to teach in these circumstances. There aren’t that many positives of the job, but the few that there are have been completely nullified due to Covid. There is pretty much nothing to do outside of your lessons, and the lessons that you do plan have to been curtailed, constrained or outright cancelled.

8. A lot depends on the school/area. As for me:

   ALT, teaching in person. Masks are required, but not face shields. In one of the schools I work at they have desk shields in the staff room, but not in most. Staff and students are expected to check their temperature before going to school, and in two of the schools (maybe the third as well, I never enter through the student’s entrance) they double-check the temperature when students enter.

   There’s NO regular COVID testing. Japan doesn’t do that most of the time. They only test close contacts if somebody fell ill, and even then, their definition of a close contact can be a bit iffy, to say the least.

   Vaccination isn’t a legal requirement, so no proof of vaccination is required.

   From what I hear, ALT Dispatch companies want to bring in new ALTs next year, for the spring semester. There’s a lot of applicants who applied but couldn’t enter the country during the last… 2 years or so? So there’s a bit of a backlog of applicants. Most people applying now likely won’t be able to start until 2023.

9. I just left my school in July, so things have likely changed a bit due to my rural city having one of the highest vaccination rates in the prefecture (Ishikawa), but similar to others here, we’ve been in person since June 2020 after an extended spring break and 2 months of online (or as online as we could be given internet access for students).

   Japan never got the idea that close contact is actually 2m, so very little changed as far as where students sit (although teachers were spread throughout the school instead of being as concentrated in the teachers room. They’ve been more consolidated this year, though). We avoid full school events as much as possible, but we are small enough where we can socially distance in the gym.

   Face masks are required, although some students are better about wearing them than others. No anti-maskers, luckily. Desk shields for teachers desks, although research is showing they’re often useless unless they are much more airtight than they normally are. Students have to stay home if they have a fever, of course, but we haven’t done regular temperature checks for a while unless you feel sick, which is the best practice. Currently, no requirement for vaccination for staff or students, although that may come up next year if vaccinations continue as they are now. I don’t know much about the vaccine approval process in Japan other than that it took too damn long, so that whole process may influence those requirements. Also, children 12+ didn’t get approved to be vaccinated until July/August (I forget when), so that is unlikely to be possible for a while.

   Regular COVID testing? 😂🤣😂 We have those rapid tests in drug stores for like ¥3,000, but if you want an official test, you’re going to need to come into contact with someone who tests positive (and even then, probably exhibit symptoms) or pony up a whole lot of yen.

   As far as I know, the borders are largely shut, but people are getting through slowly. The gov’t is thinking of ending the state of emergency at the end of the month, so it seems likely they’ll be opening up later this fall. No guarantees, of course.

10. I have a friend at Gaba and he said they don’t do anything. Face to face for 40 minutes in a confined space. At that point masks don’t even matter.