The Education Department at Manzanar “started in the corner of one barrack in June, 1942,” reported the Manzanar Free Press. Shortages of space, supplies, and teaching staff presented significant barriers to educating Manzanar’s students.

At first, ninth-grader Yuri Matsunaga recalled “sitting on the floor in a bare room without any desks or chairs.” She was among more than 2,300 students relocated to Manzanar before the end of the 1942 school year. 

One year later, however, the Manzanar Free Press reported, “about 50 percent of the total community population is going to school.” The elementary school enrolled 1,300; the secondary school 1,400; and the Adult Education program 2,050. An “Americanization” program began in May 1942, with adult English language, Democracy, and U.S. History classes taught by internees.

Many college students who had their education disrupted by war, and others who aspired to attend college, were able to leave the camps in pursuit of higher education. Camp teachers, counselors, and the Quaker-led National Japanese American Student Relocation Council assisted more than 4,000 students in leaving war relocation centers for schools away from the West Coast.