Photo/Illutration Students at Myvanmaxel Secondary School in the Laotian province of Champasak show a plate bearing the word “Arasho” on Nov. 14. (Provided by Fujiko Anzawa)

The name of a Tokyo high school slated for closure will live on in Laos thanks largely to the generosity of an alumni group.

A vivid green building of Myvanmaxel Secondary School in southern Laos opened on Nov. 14 with a silver plate on a wall that read: “2019.11.14 Arasho.”

Arasho is short for the Arakawa Business High School in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward.

And Tomonkai, the alumni association of Arasho, provided the funds for the new school building.

Fujiko Anzawa, 61, chairwoman of Tomonkai, Masako Kano, 62, a senior official of Tomonkai, and Seiichi Morita, 67, a former principal of Arasho, attended the opening ceremony of the new building in Myvanmaxel in Champasak province, which shares borders with Thailand and Cambodia.

“It’s our pleasure that people are satisfied with our assistance,” Anzawa said in front of 230 students. “I would like you to create the future of Arasho.”

The students welcomed their overseas guests by waving Japanese flags and performing a dance.

“We vow to study hard every day to preserve the school for the next generation,” said Khaikeo Siphommalangkoun, a seventh-year student at the school.

As part of reforms of high schools run by the Tokyo metropolitan government, Arasho is scheduled to close in March 2022, ending an 86-year history.

Tomonkai, which is also expected to wrap up its activities at that time, was wondering what to do with the remaining membership fees totaling 7.5 million yen ($68,400).

Based on the thinking that the group should “return the favor through educational support,” Anzawa and others sought advice from the Asian Education and Friendship Association (AEFA), a nonprofit organization that helps to introduce schools in developing countries.

The association learned about Myvanmaxel Secondary School, whose wooden building had become so aged that classes could not be held on days of strong winds and torrential rain.

Anzawa and the others decided to “donate the membership fees to erect a new school building to preserve the name” of Arasho.

They were also told that children from eight surrounding villages go to the school. But there have been many other youngsters who want to enroll but cannot.

With the help of the AEFA, a strong steel-frame school building and dormitory were completed in April.

The new structure has four classrooms equipped with two-seater desks, chairs and blackboards.

Around 20,000 people have graduated from Arasho since its establishment in 1935.

“I will be happy if we can send out a message telling people that a school’s name can be preserved in such a form,” Anzawa said.