Thread by @tkatsumi06j

BREAKING NEWS: Grade schools and junior high schools in Tokyo's #Mitaka city have plans to have their students watch the #Tokyo2020 Games as a curriculum with meticulously planned schedule, revealed in the Mitaka City Council deliberation.
#StopExploitingChildrenForOlympics

https://twitter.com/asunokaori/status/1399648489592688640

The plan was revealed by Mai Maeda, a city councilwoman of Mitaka on May 31.
Here's the official video stream of the City Council.
mitaka-city.stream.jfit.co.jp/?tpl=play_vod&…

The plan shows at the bottom in red that the original proposal was made from Tokyo government on December 2020. A total of 12,777 students were subject to this curriculum with just 880 teachers to escort them. Today, the number has changed to 12,962 students and 836 escorts.

Councilwoman Maeda (JCP) asked 18 detailed questions to the City, the Board of Education, and the Mayor questioning the transparency, rationale, logistics, issue of consent, and contingencies, demanding the cancellation of the program. The mayor said he has no intention to cancel

Up on the stand were the Mayor, Board of Education Chair, City Education Div. Mgr, and Sports & Culture Div. Mgr. They all essentially preached the importance of "Olympic Education" vs. guaranteeing the safety of children and that it's up to the schools to safeguard them.

The most reasonable of the four was the Education Chair Kainose, who echoed the position raised recently by the Olympics sponsors as reported by the @FT, that “perhaps there is an option to extend the opening of the Games to somewhat cooler season so we can avoid heatstrokes.”

But as Councilwoman Maeda @maedamai_181 said in this tweet a week before the deliberation, “no one is taking responsibility” for either making the final call to cancel or even to protect the lives of children in case of contingency situations. The buck is passed to the schools.

https://twitter.com/maedamai_181/status/1396448636456734726

And this is only one of the cities in Tokyo.

As revealed in early May, #Tokyo2020 organizers planned to ‘mobilize’ a total of 810K grade schools and junior high school students nationwide. More than half of that, 460K students are to be ‘deployed’ to the 2 main stadiums in Tokyo. Mitaka’s plan is just the tip of iceberg.

https://twitter.com/nitiyoutwitt/status/1392375428136923137

You can follow the discussions and anxieties revolving around this ‘student mobilization’ scheme by following the hashtag #学校連携観戦, meaning “coordinated-watching of the Games with schools”. After the story broke out, parents nationwide have been very concerned of this plan.