The Japanese newspaper “The Mainichi” reports that a city in southwestern Japan will soon allow some students to attend classes remotely through attendance robots, in an effort to address the issue of school absenteeism, which authorities say has worsened significantly in recent years.
One official stated to the newspaper, “In addition to allowing students to watch classes, the robots enable them to move freely in the place and interact with others as they wish. We hope this will help reduce the psychological barriers for absent students.”
According to the report, the mobile robots feature a wheeled base connected to a long pole with a tablet device, students in Japan operate the robot’s movements from home and can interact with classmates and teachers through video chat throughout the school day.
The region reports that a total of 2,760 students in elementary and junior high schools in the city “did not attend classes in the 2022 academic year,” a number that has been rising annually since 2018 when the city had a relatively low number of absentees, totaling 1,283 school-age children in junior high and high school.
These numbers are concerning, and according to the newspaper, the robots are not the region’s first effort to address the issue, as they previously started offering the more common solution of online lessons.
As the region states, these “virtual classes” worked as intended, with students reporting that the online system reduced their anxiety about social interaction and improved their self-esteem.
Now, it appears the school board is enhancing its digital services. According to the report, two remote attendance robots are set to be available around November, with region officials arguing that the devices offer absent students the ability to have greater social interaction and collaboration with other children without physically attending school.
It’s worth noting that this effort is currently limited to the elementary and junior high school levels, however, considering the apparent effectiveness of the “virtual classes” in improving students’ mental well-being, the region may look to introduce robots as a form of social communication bridge between online and in-person classes, ultimately hoping to encourage students who fear school attendance to eventually attend high school in person.
