I just find it ridiculous that a child can come to class barely able to breathe much less say full sentences when if the same happened to a teacher we’d be sent home and told to rest (and not paid at least where I work). This past week a child came to class, and coughed until she cried, the poor thing. I called in the Japanese staff and they told me, “It’s our policy to not send kids out of the lesson once they’re here.” So I sat there for 50 minutes teaching and watching this child cough herself ragged. She was happy to be there but you could tell she was suffering. And the other kids who were sitting around her were visibly uncomfortable.
Anyway fast forward to the next day we have a meeting because apparently a kid told their mom that the girl was coughing and wasn’t wearing her mask(that’s another rule we have by the way, if you’re under 5 you don’t have to wear a mask.) Staff got called and got chewed out. I was told to keep teaching regardless of the child’s health condition.
Oh and we are understaffed and overcrowded so if one of the teachers get sick, that’s easily 100 students who will miss their lessons for that week.
21 comments
¥
At my Eikaiwa the business loses out on money when students don’t show up. My head teacher is always sweating up a storm if students are late and I’m pretty sure it’s because of money.
[deleted]
Money. I don’t know about your work but at mine if we cancel a class we have to refund/reschedule. If the parents cancel we don’t have to.
Also, the parents often use the lesson time to go do errands or whatever. Sending the kid out of the classroom means someone else has to watch her until the parent comes back. Parents may not even be able to get back until the end of lesson time anyway.
​
So someone’s been watching this kid in the office or wherever (keeping them from other work for 30~50 minutes) AND they have to refund the parents for the missed lesson if the parent can’t or won’t reschedule. Easier and more cost effective to just keep the kid in the classroom.
​
The parents should have kept their kid home if the poor thing was coughing like that. But I’ve had kids vomit in class and when we call the parents they say “Oh, did he vomit *again*? He got sick this morning too but I thought he’d be ok.”
Even before COVID I was super strict with the temperature rule. They can study online if they exhibit any symptoms. I am not willing to risk my health for a crappy paying job.
I have called the ambulance on sick students and I would not hesitate to do it again.
Before Corona, I worked in the kitchen and one chef was coughing, he looked obviously sick..
I asked him why he was at work. I was the lowest ranked one so that was a bad thing to do, question your head chef . But apparently it’s “noble” or “honourable” to suffer for work.
But it’s common sense – you’re touching food and you’re visibly sick.. what do you think would happen ? At that time no one work a mask in the kitchen.
Let me guess… big chain eikaiwa?
I had a baito at a small family-run eikaiwa, and once this student threw up in class, they cleaned everything back up and left her in class. Apparently they couldn’t contact her parents, but I was worried for my health and the other students, also she probably needed a rest too.
Q: Why do some Eikawa allow sick kids to come to class?
A: Money. Because money.
I worked in eikaiwa pre-COVID (a fair bit before, but during swine/avian flu if that helps) and felt there were two standards. On one hand schools would close because somebody had proven influenza. However I never had a sick day (small eikaiwa) because there wasn’t really a concept of sick days (my sick leave was combined with my annual leave, which I had to take when the eikaiwa was closed so yeah… I wasn’t gonna trade my short holiday window for sick leave).
TBH I think part of it is that the industry is not regulated. If you compare it to childcare in Australia (a low-paid industry with pretty poor conditions)…
– Aussie childcare workers get paid more, but need a childcare cert (takes ~12 months) and some have a bachelors degree in early childhood (usually managers and room leaders, who get paid a little more).
– ANY sign of coughing/sniffles will have the kids sent home immediately. Kids who throw-up or have runny poo will be excluded for 2-3 days even if they have a medical certificate to say they are okay.
– There’s industry regulators who regularly come in to check that everything’s up to scratch. If not, the centre can be closed down.
—
The above is just a thought more than anything, but eikaiwa really isn’t regulated (for better or for worse). IMO if people want pay raises and better conditions then the industry needs a regulator that sets minimum qualifications and workplace standards. Problem is… you do this and IMO lotsa eikaiwas would go bust.
It’s money. They don’t want the kid there, but they don’t want to piss off the parent, you know, the person who pays the money.
Parents treat schools like childcare centres for sick kids.
Also the work culture in Japan is pretty gross, some workplaces would frown upon a parent taking a few weeks off work because of “just a cough”.
Money and parents can’t leave work to get their kid.
I once asked the office at a former place to bring a kid up a cup of water. They came up and told him to stop coughing. I guess a cup of water was too pricey for them.
The parents dont care, the eikaiwa owners dont care
That good ol Gaman.
I once went to the nurses office after my first class of the day, found out I had a fever of over 39, notified the VP before going to fill out my pto sheet, and she went “Okay, next class starts in 5 minutes so go upstairs and prepare.”… Nah man.
Money. The eikaiwa industry has been struggling immensely first after Corona lockdowns caused so many students to quit and recently because jukus have been offering English classes. They want to get as much as they can off every student.
I’m now in the UK at a primary school and we’ve had kids coughing everywhere for weeks. They won’t be sent home unless they actually throw up.
Teachers have to come in as well even if they’re testing positive for Covid (and they don’t wear masks either. It’s nuts)
Here it’s more to do with attendance (schools need high attendance ratings) but at eikaiwa it’s the parents choice to send them and eikaiwa will accept them because it’s a contractual relationship. Parents would lose the lesson fee if they cancel on the day.
If the school refuse the child they’d have to refund the parent.
It’s ridiculous and everyone is constantly sick.
Poor planning and weak policies.
I help run an eikaiwa. We are strict on masks and will send students home if they are visibly sick or tell us they are sick.
What baffles me is the parents who keep them home from school because they are ill then try to send them to after school classes as normal… what are they thinking?
Money and policy.
Smaller eikaiwa that are runner poorly and have weak policies allow no mask and sick children. Any of the good ones will send a kid home on the hint of being sick and enforce mask for all children even those under 5 while in a classroom.
Unfortunately the smaller places tend to be desperate for money so they’d rather deal with some claims than deal with losing one person’s work of attendance fees.
Profit > Employees
*Wow, it’s always like you hate money. What did money ever do to you?*
That is literally what I believe runs through their heads whenever you try to bring things like this up.