Some parents say they cannot control their children’s overuse of computer devices at home, and they are blaming schools and the government.

Under the central government’s school concept called “GIGA (Global and Innovation Gateway for All), students at public elementary and junior high schools will each have a terminal device, such as an iPad, provided by their school.

In fiscal 2020, the education ministry started full-scale distribution of the devices to children as a response to COVID-19-related school closures and other reasons.

By March this year, the goal was nearly reached at public elementary and junior high schools nationwide.

According to an education ministry survey conducted in April, 27.4 percent of elementary schools and 32.8 percent of junior high schools said they allowed students to take their device home every day.

In a survey conducted the previous fiscal year, the ratios were 6.9 percent for elementary schools and 10.1 percent for junior high schools.

The ministry has notified each education board that allowing the devices to be brought home “improves the quality of students’ work at home” and “is effective from a view point of continuous learning under emergencies, such as temporary school closures.”

The notice also said functional restrictions on these devices “will be done to a limited extent only when it is truly necessary.”

But some parents are complaining their children are glued to these devices at home and are often using them for non-school activities, like playing games.

According to a ministry representative, the ministry has not provided detailed standards regarding the pros and cons of allowing students to take these devices home. There are also no guidelines about usage restrictions.

These school-provided devices are supposed to be used to check homework and time schedules, as well as for communications with homeroom teachers.

That makes it difficult for parents to decide whether to restrict their children’s time on the devices at home.

Ninomiya Elementary School in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, has allowed its students to take home their devices since April 2021.

But after some parents told the school that their children “use it at home too much,” the school held a meeting for pupils before the summer break this year.

School officials let the pupils themselves decide on “five dos and don’ts” on using their devices at home during the summer vacation.

The students had learned about the harmful effects of computer overuse and internet addiction in the first semester.

Their rules included “keep to the time limit” and “when you don’t know about times when you can use a device, you should consult adults.”

But even afterward, a few parents continued to consult the school about the matter, the school said.

A teacher at the school said the devices are “a tool that makes the continuity of learning possible” and the school “wants to fully utilize them.”

However, a company employee in her 40s who lives in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward is not sure about such policies.

In late September, when she returned home from work, she asked her daughter, a third-grader attending a public elementary school, to show the school-provided iPad.

The mother said she wanted to check on what her daughter had been doing.

The daughter started crying when she handed the device to her mother.

She had used the device for about four hours, including for homework. But she also watched several videos featuring cats on YouTube.

The daughter’s school has handed notes cautioning students not to watch anything on the devices that are unrelated to studies.

The daughter cried to her mother about the school's caution, saying “Everybody is doing stuff not related to studies.”

The school provided the devices about a year ago. But even before that, the daughter had a habit of browsing videos on the internet on her personal tablet.

The mother installed a restriction of use of the personal tablet. For the school tablet, the daughter promised to use it for only up to an hour a day.

The girl’s teacher told the mother about the overuse, “Please manage it at home.”

Another mother in Tokyo in her 30s has a son who is a fifth-grader at a public elementary school in Adachi Ward.

He routinely opens his school-provided tablet as soon as he comes home, and sometimes uses it for several hours.

The mother does not know what he is doing on the tablet. Every time she approaches him from behind, the son switches screens, she said.

The school provided the tablet last year.

The students initially used the devices at school only, but they started bringing them home in the summer break this year.

That has affected his life, the mother said.

She said she often finds out that he has not finished his homework despite using the tablet for hours.

She complained, “I don’t understand why (the school) has provided the device” to her son.

A teacher in his 40s at a junior high school in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, said he heard from many of his students that they play online games with their school-provided devices.

According to the education board of Utsunomiya, the city started allowing students to take the devices home in May 2021.

The city has installed restrictions on only a few websites.

The teacher said at least one student had the device seized by a parent because the child was playing games for long hours.

The teacher conducted a survey on second-year students during a moral education class in September, asking about their dependance on the internet.

The result showed about 40 percent of the students were strongly suspected of being hooked on the internet, the teacher said.

The teacher complained about the “non-interference” policy.

“The central and local governments have told us to encourage students to use these devices to become familiar with them, but I am worried that they can become a detriment for the children.”