Quake recovery plan includes focus on schools, universities

Minimising disruption to schools and universities remains a top concern of the Japanese government’s recovery programme after the Noto Peninsula was hit on New Year’s Day by a massive earthquake – the strongest in that region for four decades.

Measures have been taken to keep universities open and to ensure students preparing for university entrance in affected areas can still take their examinations later this month.

Experts point to the ongoing evacuation of families in the region’s towns and villages around the north coast of Japan’s main island of Honshu, which has raised concerns about disruptions for those preparing for higher education.

Ishikawa Prefecture, the worst affected area, reported that 46 schools – primary, junior and high – remain closed. Another 48 schools are being used as evacuation centres for the wider population. Over 750 schools across the prefecture were damaged, according to reports.

The region in central Japan reported more than 200 dead, and almost 35,000 houses were damaged by the 1 January earthquake that registered 7.6 on the Japanese Meteorological Agency’s seismic intensity scale which measures the degree of shaking on the Earth’s surface.

Amid continued aftershocks, Wajima, a town in Ishikawa, has been relocating students. Japanese media reported that 250 junior high school students left their families this week after their schools were repurposed as evacuation centres for some of the over 100,000 people displaced from the worst-hit areas.

The students will stay in another town for a projected two months to continue classes, with teachers travelling to the new location. Other disrupted cities, Suzu and Noto, are following similar group-evacuation strategies.

Education recovery

Professor Hideomi Gokon, who specialises in disasters and tsunami science at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Nomi, Ishikawa, said the latest disaster has raised the profile of education recovery as schools and universities have taken speedy decisions to continue classes and extend support for affected students.

Gokon said his university, which opened 30 years ago, has for the first time launched a programme to study disaster assistance for displaced students. “We are looking at ways our university can perform this responsibility that involves starting classes and volunteer work,” he told University World News.

Gokon is now also a member of the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake Tsunami Study Group (Reiwa 6 Noto Hanto Jishin Tsunami Chosha). The research organisation is a collaboration of some 20 universities. Japan is a world leader in disaster research.

“Every major disaster in Japan presents an opportunity to beef up disaster management research and the Noto Peninsula tragedy is no exception,” he said, adding that the special focus this time is investigating the role of universities in times of disaster. “We are moving beyond research to also include the social issues,” he said.

Assistance in the field of post-traumatic stress disorder became a major theme in disaster management following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami that hit Fukushima. The ministry of education has identified this field as a major topic in evacuation research.

Teachers have reported stress among students following mass relocation, and support for them, such as online classes and dispatching students to other, less affected areas, has been identified as critical by local governments in Ishikawa Prefecture.

Make-up examinations

As part of its response, the ministry of education announced students affected by the disaster can take make-up university entrance tests on 27 and 28 January at a venue set up at Kanazawa University in Kanazawa, the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture. Students who cannot make it to these rescheduled exams are also permitted a retake later.

The main national exams were scheduled for 13 to 14 January, less than two weeks after the powerful earthquake struck the region. The roads from smaller cities have been badly affected, according to news reports, with heavy snow also delaying repair teams from getting into the areas.

In addition, the ministry instructed universities to keep campuses open so that education is not interrupted. The government-affiliated Japan Student Services Organization announced new support measures on 4 January for students whose family income has been affected by the disaster. These include grants and reduced repayments for students, and a non-repayable JPY100,000 grant (US$675) for students whose homes were severely damaged, including international students.

Many universities announced that they will accept applications from students even if high schools are unable to issue applicants’ reports, and some universities said they will waive application and tuition fees.

Hokuriku University in Kanazawa, which reported little damage, is offering economic assistance to its own affected students and has said it will accept delayed applications from school-leavers affected by the quake. The university also opened an evacuation centre.