Society

Japanese students skip school to protest their re-opening amid growing number of COVID-19 cases

Apr 19 (soranews24.com) - Around the last week of February, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the nationwide closure of schools until further notice. However, despite that announcement, some schools have decided to re-open early.

And now the same is happening for schools in Ibaraki prefecture, except students at one particular high school have decided to protest by willfully not attending.

While there are only 80 third-year students protesting, they managed to mobilize and went as far as submitting a statement to the prefectural board of education. Weâ€™ve compiled their two main demands here:

1. Until the prefecture is able to adequately supply all students with masks, schools should remain closed for the time being.

2. During school closure, an online system should be created so we can continue receiving our education without the risk of getting infected/infecting others.

Ibaraki prefecture has roughly 125 confirmed cases and isnâ€™t the worst hit prefecture in Japan, but the alarm and dissent expressed by the students is understandable. Considering the large number of students packed in each class and the amount of bodies coming and going through school buildings, educational institutions are logically a prime hotspot during an epidemic.

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