Shonai Town, Yamagata Prefecture, presented school bags to children entering elementary school this spring in an attempt to reduce the financial burden on parents.
In the former Tachikawa Town before the merger with Shonai Town, school bags have been presented to new students since 1975 in order to reduce the financial burden on parents, and after the merger, it has been carried out throughout Shonai Town.
School bags were given to 139 people this year, and about 60 people, including new first graders and parents, participated in the presentation ceremony held at Amarume Daiichi Elementary School.
At the beginning, two representatives of the new first graders were asked to carry a school bag on their backs from Mayor Masaki Harada, and they smiled with a shy smile.
After that, the school bags that the children had selected in advance from the four colors were put in a box and handed to each one, and the children cheerfully thanked them, saying "Thank you."
The boy who received the school bag said, "I'm looking forward to studying. I want to do my best in math."
The boy's mother said, "I'm really grateful. I want my child to use the school bag carefully for 6 years."