Photo/Illutration Children study at a community center in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward on March 2. (Yosuke Fukudome)

Frustrated parents were scrambling to find places to put their children after schools closed on March 2 on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s request that provided only a few days for preparations.

Many of the parents are relying on special programs set up by their companies or the schools themselves that have officially shut down.

Abe on Feb. 27 asked elementary, junior high, high and special assistance schools to remain closed from March 2 until the beginning of spring break later this month as an emergency measure to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The requests affects 13 million students nationwide.

Many of the schools did so on March 2, but some local governments chose to continue classes. Others said they will shut down school operations after March 2, saying more time is needed to prepare for the closings.

At Koganei No. 1 Elementary School, first- through third-graders came to school amid the drizzle on March 2, some accompanied by their parents.

Koganei, a city on the outskirts of Tokyo, had closed all schools on March 2, but local officials opened some elementary schools to look after children on their parents’ behalf from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

A father who took his two daughters to the No. 1 school said he was relieved his children can still spend time at the school.

“We were flustered when the government’s request for school closings was announced so suddenly,” the father, who is in his 30s, said. “But we were grateful that school officials decided to take them in.”

Abe’s request caught many parents, local authorities and businesses off guard. Some criticized Abe and his administration for making a knee-jerk decision without taking into account the realities facing working couples and single parents.

So instead of being isolated at home alone, children in Koganei studied by themselves at classrooms and read books in libraries under the watch of teachers.

Pupils were organized into small groups and placed in separate classrooms to minimize the risk of being infected.

After 11:30 a.m., the pupils were moved to after-school day care centers for lunch and stayed there until evening when their parents could pick them up.

Officials in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward instructed schools in the ward to close, in principle. But the ward’s after-school day care centers will remain open to meet the needs of children whose parents cannot take care of them during the day.

A mother of two elementary school children in the ward expressed concerns that gathering pupils at after-school day care centers could lead to a spread of the virus among the children.

“I would like the school to be open during the morning or open every other day,” said the woman, who is a single mother.

She said it is difficult for her to take time off work because her absence would mean that somebody else will have to do her job.

The mother also said she “was frustrated” by the central government’s approach that seemed to assume that parents would accept school closures as long as part of their income is guaranteed.

Some companies swiftly set up special spaces so that parents could work while looking after their children when their schools are closed.

Pasona Group Inc., a leading employment and staffing agency, began letting employees at its headquarters in Tokyo’s Otemachi district take their children to work on March 2.

Those eligible are limited to employees who have elementary school children and cannot work from home. The parents can work near their children in a “family work office,” a space set up in an office that is filled with toys.

(This article was compiled from reports by Kayoko Sekiguchi, Masayoshi Hayashi, Takuro Negishi and Shimpei Doi.)

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