Children study with Portuguese textbooks at Colegio Santana in Aisho, Shiga Prefecture. Taro Tamaki AISHO, Shiga Prefecture residents started a crowdfunding drive to help a COVID 19 hit school that was set up as a lifeline for Brazilian children struggling to adapt to life in Japan.
Around 80 children in Shiga Prefecture, of all ages up to 18 years old, now attend Colegio Santana in Ashio.
The school is not covered by the Japanese government subsidy program for public schools, so its operations are funded primarily by tuition fees.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many problems for the school.
Many of the students parents work as temporary employees dispatched by staffing agencies to manufacturing facilities. Many people saw their working hours cut during the novel coronaviruses crisis.
In January this year, a cluster infection at Colegio Santana resulted in a two-week suspension of classes. Guardians with in close contact with infected pupils were unable to go to their workplaces for some time.
Tuition fee payments have been late, making it hard for the school to continue operating.
Colegio Santana was founded in 1998 by Kenko Nakata, now 65, who hails from Brazil and is currently the school's principal.
After learning that children of Brazilian descent in the area were not enrolling in Japanese schools, Nakata opened the school.
Many students came here after they were troubled by the language barrier and bullying at public schools, Nakata said.
The classes at Colegio Santana are provided in Portuguese within prefab housing or private homes.
Local residents set up a nonprofit organization with the name of the school five years ago to help out.
The NPO distributes a bulletin on Colegio Santana and organizes exhibitions to display students' artwork.
Children also grow vegetables in an agricultural field offered by a group member for use in school lunches.
On June 1, the group started a two-month crowdfunding campaign to cover the school's operation expenses at https: camp-fire. Yasuyo Yanagida, 45, a representative of the NPO's secretariat, said jp projects view 578447 We would like broad cooperation extended to protect this important place for children.