Kyoto City × Seiki Co., Ltd.: Implementation and Results of Online Metaverse Classroom 'Online Ibasho' for Truancy Support

We report on the implementation status for FY2025 of the 'Online Ibasho' project, a support initiative for truant students undertaken by Kyoto City and Seiki Co., Ltd.

While online support often faces the challenge of declining attendance rates over time, this project achieved an annual average attendance rate of 57.7% in its metaverse classroom. This result was higher than initially expected at the launch of the project, demonstrating the effectiveness of efforts to encourage continuous participation.

Furthermore, for FY2026, Kyoto City has again selected Seiki Co., Ltd. through a public proposal process. The city has entrusted the company with the operation of both the 'Online Ibasho' metaverse truancy support project and the parent support meetings, ensuring comprehensive assistance for both the students and their guardians.

■ Overview of the Two-Year Initiative

Commissioned by Kyoto City to Seiki Co., Ltd., this project has been progressively developed with a medium-to-long-term perspective, reviewing the contract annually. The overall picture of the initiatives over the two years starting from FY2024 is as follows:

FY2024: Established a support model providing a safe space as an empirical study of the metaverse-based 'Online Ibasho.'

FY2025: Full-scale implementation building on the results of FY2024, including the enhancement of learning programs and parent support, as well as the materialization of connections from online to real-world environments.

Background and Objectives

In recent years, the number of truant students nationwide has continued to rise, approximately doubling over the last five years. Furthermore, about 40% of truant students do not receive specialized consultation or guidance at institutions inside or outside of school, highlighting the issue of a demographic not connected to any support.

Similarly, in Kyoto City, the number and percentage of truant students in elementary and junior high schools have been increasing over the last five years, and this trend continues.

Given this background, this project aims to build a model where students can connect to diverse support tailored to their situations. Through the provision of a virtual space utilizing online platforms, the goal is to systematically support their reconnection with society.

Key Initiatives of 'Online Ibasho' in FY2025

1. Provision of Multi-Grade, Cross-Curricular Programs

Since this project targets students from the 4th grade of elementary school to the 3rd grade of junior high school, multi-grade and cross-curricular programs were designed.

Classes incorporated interactive and experiential learning, such as stories, quizzes, experiments, and programming, to promote proactive participation among students. Additionally, local culture, history, and social issues were addressed with Kyoto as a theme, creating touchpoints between learning and the local community.

For instance, in foreign language education, a story-based class titled 'Around the World Boat Trip Adventure' was developed, where students restored a lost world map while solving quizzes alongside a captain. Going beyond mere language acquisition, the class touched on the backgrounds of greetings and food cultures of various countries, offering cross-curricular exploration intertwined with a social studies perspective. This enabled multi-faceted learning tailored to different grades: younger students enjoyed encountering global diversity, while older students grasped deeper cultural contexts.

2. Connection from Online to Real

Aiming for the social independence of children, this project supports 'using online as a gateway to connect to real society.' Leveraging the low-hurdle advantage of online participation, the program fostered a sense of self-worth and the joy of connecting with others through learning and interaction. As a step to nurture curiosity about the outside world, real-world events were held twice a year.

In FY2025, offline meetup events for actual interaction were held in collaboration with local businesses and facilities, such as Shogoin Yatsuhashi Sohonten Co., Ltd. and the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art.

Key Results of 'Online Ibasho' in FY2025

1. Continuous Attendance in the Metaverse Classroom and Establishment as a Third Space

Support was provided to 105 registered users, with a total attendance of 1,471 students and an average attendance rate of 57.7%. In a questionnaire (out of 4 points) given to attending students, the program received high evaluations: an average of 3.63 for class enjoyment and 3.61 for ease of understanding. It was confirmed that the program is functioning as a safe learning environment for students to attend.

[User Voices]

From Children:

- 'I always look forward to chatting because they speak to me kindly! The stories are interesting and fun, and I started looking forward to every week so much! I really love Online Ibasho.'

From Parents:

- 'I started looking forward to Wednesdays every week. Wanting to connect with others more, my child slowly started going outside.'

2. Comprehensive Support Including Parent Assistance

Parallel to supporting the children, the 'Parents' Meeting WithOne' was held for guardians. This combined study sessions to deepen understanding of truancy with roundtable discussions where parents could share their experiences and feelings. A total of 418 people participated across 6 sessions.

Kyoto City Board of Education, Student Guidance Division