Disused Tokyo School Becomes Indian International School

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Indian community gets disused Tokyo school
A disused junior high school in Tokyo's Koto Ward is again bristling with the sounds of children after its formal reopening Monday as the Tokyo campus of the India International School in Japan (IISJ). The school building in the city's Ojima neighborhood was closed eight years ago in a move to consolidate ever-shrinking classrooms amid a declining birthrate. Officials in Koto Ward, home to many Indian nationals, decided to rent out the school to the IISJ with the support of local resident associations...Some 450 students attend the IISJ, which teaches classes from kindergarten through senior high school. The school also has a campus in Yokohama's Midori Ward. Although it is not certified by the government as an official school in Japan, its curriculum has been approved by India's education ministry, meaning that students returning to India can keep the class credits earned in Japan. The IISJ opened its doors in 2004 in a commercial building in Koto Ward. Overcrowding soon forced the school to move to another building in the ward...The hope of school officials since the beginning was to find a site with enough space for a playground...Hideo Matsudo, who heads the Ojima 1-chome neighborhood association, said: "There was no opposition to having them use it as a school. We hope they are able to enjoy making a lot of wonderful memories at the school"...more...