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       NAGOYA -- The Nagoya Municipal Government plans to open designated in-school safe spaces in fiscal 2022 at 30 of the city's junior high schools for students who have stopped attending or struggle with group-oriented school life, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned.

       In-school safe spaces will use vacant classrooms, and each school will work out its own way of creating a comfortable environment for students, such as by installing carpets. The government of the central Japan city set up one such kind of "free school" space on a trial basis at a school in the 2021 academic year.

       As a result, they could confirm the space's positive effects, including at least one student who was missing classes becoming able to attend school again. The space was also an opportunity for teachers to reflect on and think about teaching methods. Considering the results, the city of Nagoya has decided to expand the scope of the in-school safe space program to include more schools.

       Students in different grades could attend the free school spaces together, and therefore regular classes will not be conducted, leaving the decision on their day's schedule up to each student, which can include a study hall period. The city also plans to prepare an environment in which students feel at ease about speaking to a school counselor.

       Similar in-school safe space programs are run in the Aichi Prefecture city of Okazaki and Yokohama, among other municipalities, but according to the city of Nagoya, such initiatives are still rarely seen in Japan.

       (Japanese original by Hitomi Takai, Nagoya News Center)

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