We spoke with President Tsutsui of Eishinkan about the company’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
My, what a tremendous effort that was—it was nothing short of amazing.

　Due to school closures, most cram schools across the country have suspended operations. While the question of how to support students—especially those preparing for entrance exams—in continuing their studies is certainly a major concern, the suspension of classes poses a significant business challenge for cram schools. In fact, it is reported that they have received numerous requests from students stating that they wish to withdraw from the school or receive a refund of their tuition fees if in-person classes are not held.

　On the other hand, they realized that when they actually tried to launch an online program, parents were extremely resistant to the idea of video lessons. Furthermore, there was a strong perception that “digital” meant “free” or “cheap,” and initially, they received numerous expressions of anxiety and dissatisfaction, with parents questioning whether online classes were really worth the full tuition fee.
So, Eishinkan decided to focus on offering a large volume of content.In face-to-face classes, time constraints meant they could only select and explain certain problems, but online, they could increase the number of sessions as much as they wanted. So they decided, “Let’s explain every single problem!”

　Although there were differences depending on the grade level, they reportedly provided nearly twice the usual amount of class content. For fifth and sixth graders alone, they recorded 1,000 minutes of video each week and produced 968 videos in two weeks. Since they outsourced the editing, the invoice total was…The president must have turned pale.
The teachers weren’t entirely without reservations about switching to online instruction either. With unfamiliar online classes and having to rebuild the curriculum from scratch, mistakes kept happening.
However, as a result of their desperate efforts, the numerous requests for withdrawals and refunds completely stopped, and they began receiving many heartwarming messages instead.

　What was particularly interesting was the creation of a detailed schedule. With online learning, students tend to fall into the pattern of thinking, “I can watch this anytime → so I won’t watch it.” That’s precisely why creating a detailed schedule helped establish a regular daily routine.
Currently, many schools are unable to offer online classes due to infrastructure issues, but Eishinkan was actually in the same situation. They urgently set up a Wi-Fi network and began interactive classes using Zoom starting in the third week of school closures.

　They started with live streams for large groups featuring charismatic teachers. As a result, over 90% of students attended the classes live. They say they truly appreciated the sense of tension and togetherness in the live sessions, as well as the importance of content that can only be accessed at that specific time.
Starting the following week, they also implemented fully interactive classes organized by class.
To “spark motivation,” they rolled out a series of initiatives: online homeroom sessions, online pep rallies, online study rooms, and online tests. They implemented these measures one after another. The online study rooms have been particularly well-received. Studying alone can be quite difficult.But even online, studying while everyone else is working and with the teacher checking in on you is highly effective!
Later, they introduced a learning management system and made improvements to track study logs. It’s amazing they were able to get everything this well organized in such a short time!

　Incidentally, it seems that 30,000 test forms were mailed out every week using a massive manpower effort by teachers and staff. The students truly reciprocated the teachers’ hard work.95% submitted their exams by the deadline, and over 99% took the exams at home without cheating and in accordance with the rules.
Now, as for the results of those three months spent online… apparently, when comparing this year’s performance data with that of previous years, the trends match surprisingly closely. They were absolutely determined not to let the
children’s learning come to a halt and were fully committed to ensuring learning outcomes. I could really feel their tenacity.

　Eishinkan is amazing! President Tsutsui is amazing!
Thank you so much for today.
See you next time in Fukuoka (*^^*)