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Japan looks to the metaverse for education support

A new education support system that uses the metaverse to help children who refuse to go to school is drawing attention in Japan.

The government is looking into what environments children feel they belong in, amid an increase in nonattending students due to various factors such as complex home environments and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The issue is expected to be a key policy area for the new government agency for child and family affairs, to be launched in April. The government is seen to be considering many measures to help nonattending children, including those using online spaces.

Tokyo-based nonprofit organization Katariba uses the metaverse to give educational support to such children, offering an online learning space named room-K.

Room-K helps children create relationships of trust with counselors, gain a sense of belonging, acquire social skills and concentrate on studying, Katariba officials said.

Some 110 elementary and junior high school students from Hiroshima Prefecture, Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward and other places are participating in room-K.

Students can select what they want to study and when on their screens. Programs, set at 45 minutes per session, include Japanese, programming and reading with other students.

Room-K members can choose avatars such as heroes and princesses and move around freely in the space. By approaching other avatars, they can speak to other members through video calls. This feature enables students to experience what break times are like in actual schools.

The room-K project began after children lost opportunities to go to school and gain places with a sense of belonging due to blanket school closures amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

While several factors are involved in whether nonattending students can go to school again, nearly 10% of students participating in room-K were able to resume going to school this fiscal year.

However, enabling children to return to school is not the only goal.

“Our aim is to create a place where children can learn,” Katariba’s Tomotaka Segawa, who is in charge of room-K, said. “We want to increase the options for municipalities seeking to support nonattending children.”

Some municipalities have begun to recognize online learning as an alternative to going to school. In the city of Toda, Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, school principals can decide whether to treat participation in room-K as attendance at school.

According to the education ministry, the number of nonattending children at elementary and junior high schools nationwide grew to a record high of 244,940 in the year through March 2022.

Many municipalities have established education support centers for such students. But such centers often fail to attract children who live far from local facilities and who do not feel comfortable there.

“More children will be saved if online connections are turned into an opportunity to support them,” Segawa said.

Source:

  • https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/01/02/national/metaverse-japan-education/