Online learning terminal “one per person” is available in 6 of 23 wards in Tokyo

Online learning terminal “One per person” is prepared for 6 out of 23 wards in Tokyo, July 16 14:15

As the number of people infected with the new coronavirus increases again, the country has notified the National Board of Education to start online learning at home around September to prepare for the second wave. According to NHK's interview, it was found that there are only six wards within the Tokyo Board of Education that can prepare one tablet device for each elementary and junior high school student by the beginning of September.

NHK investigated with the Board of Education in the 23 wards of Tokyo whether all elementary and junior high school students have tablets that can be used at home and whether the communication environment can be improved by lending devices to homes that do not have a wireless LAN.

As a result, we found that only one environment can be prepared for each child: Chiyoda Ward, Minato Ward, Bunkyo Ward, Shibuya Ward, Toshima Ward, and Katsushika Ward.

In some districts, one vehicle is purchased and distributed to children, while in other districts, parents and brothers use smartphones and tablets to borrow households that don't have enough.

In these wards, teachers and children/students are prepared to interact with each other at online meetings and classes.

It is assumed that one unit in one household will be able to distribute videos of assignments and lessons via the Internet in six areas: Taito-ku, Koto-ku, Suginami-ku, Kita-ku, Arakawa-ku, and Edogawa-ku.

On the other hand, the remaining 11 wards say that it will be difficult for all households to improve their environment by early September.

The reason is that it is difficult to support terminals such as tablets and communication environments for all homes.

For this reason, there were some wards that were reserved for giving priority to third-year middle school students who are close to the examination, and for lending them to children and students at schools that were closed due to infection.

Associate professor Jun Takahashi of Tokyo Gakugei University, who is familiar with online learning, said, ``The environment for online learning is very important because it does not stop learning when the school is closed on the second wave of corona, etc. National governments and capital cities should enhance their support to local governments."