Photo/Illutration Sixth-graders at an elementary school in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward practice singing the school song while in masks. (Hiroaki Takeda)

Schools around Japan are increasingly adopting policies of letting students decide on their own whether to wear anti-virus face masks at their graduation ceremonies in March.

An education ministry directive issued on Feb. 10 said masks, in principle, could be removed during graduation ceremonies, but it asked that they be worn when singing the national anthem or school song.

Sixth-graders at one elementary school in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward practiced singing their school song on Feb. 21 while wearing face masks.

But the principal said no sixth-grader would be forced to wear a mask during the graduation ceremony if they did not want to.

After the practice, one girl said: “I am somewhat embarrassed to have my face seen. I want to wear it if possible.”

Another Tokyo elementary school has decided to do away with face masks throughout its entire ceremony scheduled for late March.

The ceremony will be held after March 13 when decisions on wearing face masks in public will be left up to each individual. In the new school year that starts in April, students in all grades will be allowed to go maskless.

“Students who want to wear face masks (at the ceremony) can do so, but I also felt it was important to recognize the freedom of children who do not want to wear masks,” the principal said.

A principal at a Tokyo junior high school said while the ministry directive would be followed, adequate consideration would also be given so that students who want to wear masks will not feel pressured to remove them.

The principal noted that the graduating students have been forced to wear face masks for all of their three years in junior high school. Some now say they do not want to remove the masks because of concerns about revealing their faces or bad breath.

A senior high school in Osaka Prefecture will hold its graduation ceremony on March 1, but mask decisions will be left up to each student.

A major reason is that some students will sit for entrance exams at public universities after the ceremony.

In Gifu Prefecture, the board of education revised its guidelines about mask wearing by principals when handing out diplomas.

The ministry directive said principals did not have to wear masks.

However, at a gathering of principals in the prefecture, some raised concerns that they could spread the novel coronavirus while extending encouraging remarks to the graduates.

That led to the change in guidelines to allow principals to wear face masks.

Other principals pointed out that opinions on masks varied among parents of the graduates.

Some parents want freedom not to wear masks, but others noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has still not been brought under control.

The ministry directive calls on parents and guests to wear masks at the ceremonies.

At a meeting of Tokyo principals organized by the metropolitan board of education, some participants asked what they should do if parents or guests did not wear face masks.

“Once the directive is issued, the matter might be settled for the central government, but we at the school level still have many problems to deal with,” one principal said.

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