Japanese teenagers persuaded officials
to keep schools closed
STORY PREVIEW - FULL STORY COMING 12 June
Japanese high (secondary) school students successfully appealed to local governments to prevent the spread of infection by leaving schools closed longer than originally planned.
In Japan, most schools were closed starting in March.
In some areas where the local governments decided to reopen schools in early April, teenage students demanded that schools be closed for an extended period of time to prevent the spread of the infection.
Local governments then extended the school closing until after the long "Golden Week" holiday that runs from end of April to the beginning of May.
Since then, the period for declaring a state of emergency has been extended further, and most schools were closed at least until the end of May.
The full story, by Noa Nagakura and Natsuki Takenaka of Yomiuri Junior Press, will be released soon.
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AND MORE ON 12 JUNE
© Earth Science Olympiad
MEANWHILE
The cancellations of youth baseball championships and of national scholastic championships have received plenty of the media coverage, but there's another loss for Japanese students that is less known but just as important: the International Earth Science Olympiad, which encourages future innovators.