IKEDA, Osaka Pref. — The senior vice education minister and the principal of Ikeda Elementary School announced Saturday that they are taking a series of steps immediately to increase security, including the stationing of guards around the school beginning Monday, and providing counseling to parents and students.
The measures, announced after a meeting of nearly 800 parents and concerned local residents, come one day after a knife-wielding man entered the school and stabbed to death eight elementary school students and injured another 21. Police arrested Mamoru Takuma, a 37-year-old unemployed man, in connection with the killings.
Fumio Kishida, senior vice education minister and head of the emergency committee set up to deal with the case, said the ministry would make funds available for counselors to visit the families of the victims.