Japan School Closure Plan Stuns Parents, Officials

The sudden decision by the Japanese government to close schools nationwide over the coronavirus epidemic has caught off-guard parents and administrators, sparking backlash even as some experts supported the move.

On Thursday night, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced he would ask primary, junior high and high schools to shut their doors for around a month, though nurseries and after-school clubs are exempt.

The government can not order the closure of schools, an authority which belongs to local councils, but officials in many regions have said they have not been informed or notified of the decision.

“This is shocking news,” tweeted Toshihito Kumagai, mayor of the city of Chiba, east of Tokyo.

“How will parents who are medical workers or doing other jobs that support society manage? Society could collapse.”

And Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura tweeted that he was “stunned” by the “sudden decision”, though he expressed some understanding for the move.

“All of Japan has to deal with this infectious disease,” he added.

“It must be Prime Minister Abe’s strong determination and he will take responsibility.”

The announcement of the government comes as it ramps up its response to the virus that has infected nearly 200 people throughout the world and has been connected with four deaths.

Authorities say the next two to three weeks will be critical in deciding whether the epidemic can be controlled, which is a major concern particularly for Japan in the run-up to the July Olympics opening in Tokyo.

“This decision is a particularly drastic step for the central government to take,” said Tobias Harris of Teneo Consultancy.

It was “not mentioned in the basic policy adopted Tuesday, and appears to go beyond what the government’s own experts were recommending,” he added in a note.

But some experts have recommended closures, with one member of the government panel previously pointing to smaller-scale school closures that he said helped contain a new flu outbreak in 2009.

Among many parents, there was a sense of panic, and anger that the closure would be so long.

One Twitter user slammed “how incompetent this country’s government is”.

“They promoted the idea of double-income families and then this, without providing ways to be absent from work.”

But others were more understanding of the move by the government, which was previously under attack for a relatively hands-off approach to the virus.

“It’s ‘war’ against the new coronavirus,” one Twitter user wrote.

“As it’s an emergency and a major disaster, we have to act with the maximum sense of crisis.”

Source: AFP