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MEXT E-mail Newsletter Focusing on Schools for Foreign Students
15th issue：April 28th, 2021
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(1)Revision of “New School Lifestyle –COVID-19 Infection Control Manuals and Guidelines for schools”
MEXT would like to announce that we revised again the “New School Lifestyle –COVID-19 Infection Control Manuals and Guidelines for schools.”
For further details, please check the following URL(Japanese only for now).
URL：https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20210428-mxt_kouhou01-000004520_1.pdf
It would be appreciated if it would also be utilized for the countermeasures against COVID-19.

The main points of the revision are as follows:

1.Updating of data and analyses of COVID-19 situation
The situation for students and teachers have been updated based on the data reported to MEXT up to April 15th and the analysis released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW).
•Significant changes in the transmission routes at each school type have not been seen (for elementary and junior high schools, most infections are "within the family," and for high school students, in a relatively high percentage of cases, the "infection route is not identified.")
•Regarding teachers, as before, in most cases the "infection route is not identified."
•As before, the incidence of multiple infections of five persons or more is higher at high schools.
•As before, an analysis of cases of infections of ten or more people shows that in many cases the infections were related to club activities at high schools.

2.Findings on COVID-19 variant strains and additional countermeasures
Countermeasures have been added based on the latest findings of the morbidity rate of variant strains.
•Children are not more susceptible to be infected than adults by the variant strain (N501Y), which can more easily infect people than previous strains; any age group can be easily infected.
•Compared with the previous strain, the capability of the variant strains to infect children is likely stronger.
•At the current stage, no clear trends are being seen of greater infections among children 15 or younger.
•Regarding countermeasures against the new variant strains, as before, basic anti-infection measures such as avoiding the "3Cs," wearing masks, frequent handwashing, etc. are strongly recommended.

3.Rationalization of disinfecting
Cleaning and disinfecting once a day of the places many people touch, from the standpoint of reducing the load on teachers, if children appropriately and frequently wash their hands, this measure can be omitted.

4.Additional measures of the concerns for dealing with the pandemic and the suspension of school attendance
From the standpoint of ensuring the mental care of students and the mental health of teachers, learning guidance utilizing ICT has been added for children who for unavoidable reasons cannot attend school.

5.Additional COVID-19 countermeasures by activity type/place appropriate to the regional infection levels
Precautions have been added for educational activities, for example, club activities in regions targeted for the state of emergency. In priority preventative measures areas, school managers should evaluate the level of infections and conduct educational activities according to the level of the infection.

6.Additional criteria on temporary school closures
Even with increasing calls for the temporary closure of schools due to uncertainty about the pandemic, in regards to the simultaneous temporary closure of the schools in a region, the revised manual makes clear that it should be considered very carefully, considering the effects on ensuring learning and students' mental and physical health and the loads on health care workers and others with school-age children of their own.

(2)Others
To register or de-register to this newsletter, please send an email to the following e-mail address at MEXT. In the case of register, please describe your e-mail address and affiliation in your e-mail:
E-mail address: gaikokuzingakkou@mext.go.jp
It would be appreciated if you register the e-mail address of representatives of the schools for foreign students.
 
To check the previous newsletters, please follow the steps by clicking the specified link below;
https://www.mext.go.jp/magazine/backnumber/symel_00001.htm

The website focusing on the schools for foreign students was launched in Plain Japanese on the MEXT's official website;
https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/kokusai/gaikoku/

Useful information for everyone at the schools for foreign students focusing on anti-COVID-19 measures will be provided in several languages, for the time being, so please regularly check our updates.
 
Thank you for reading this e-mail newsletter.

 
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文部科学省大臣官房国際課
「外国人学校・インターナショナルスクール メールマガジン」担当
E-mail Newsletter Focusing on Schools for Foreign Students
International Affairs Division, Minister's Secretariat, MEXT
Tel：03-5253-4111（Ex. 3222） E-mail：gaikokuzingakkou@mext.go.jp
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