As the number of COVID-19 infections surge, especially in the Tokyo metropolitan area, many junior high schools in Aichi Prefecture have been forced to change their school trip schedules, which are typically held in the spring with third-year students traveling to the Kanto region, or other destinations.
As of March 26, some 40 out of around 110 junior high schools in Nagoya had decided to postpone the trips until autumn. Schools in the city of Hekinan will hold the trips as scheduled in May or June, but will change the destinations to areas other than Kanto.
“With the governor of Tokyo asking residents to avoid nonessential travel and universities such as Waseda postponing the start of classes until May, it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to make judgments (on school trips),” said a principal of a junior high school in Nagoya.