Schools begin to reopen, with new measures to ensure student safety
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China is taking strict preventive measures to ensure the safety of students and no secondary outbreaks of COVID-19 among them as schools begin to reopen.
As the coronavirus epidemic waned in China, many students in the final year of senior and junior high schools returned to school yesterday.
In northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, more than 370,000 students went back to school.
Wearing his school uniform, Qingel walked through the gate of Hohhot No. 6 Middle School in the regional capital, while a door automatically took his temperature. He then walked on a designated lane towards the classroom.
“The super-long winter holiday is finally over,” said Qingel, 16. “I miss my classmates and teachers, and I lost some sleep last night.”
Inner Mongolia has made necessary preparations for the reopening of schools to reduce the risk of infection, said Li Zhanfeng, deputy director of the regional education department.
Over 1,000 kilometers away, in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, students of grade 9 and 12 returned to school to prepare for entrance exams for senior high schools and colleges, respectively, after a long winter break, according to the provincial education department.
Bidding farewell to the long winter break, many students at Funing Middle School were queuing up for body temperature checks with a 1 meter distance in between before entering the schools in the county of Funing.
Every classroom is well ventilated, and every class is dismissed at a different time to avoid group gatherings, said Qian Liyong, the deputy principal.
In Hohhot No. 38 Middle School, shelves were placed outside the door of every classroom to provide disinfection sprayers, thermos bottles, cleaning cloths and other daily necessities.
The school has divided the final grades of high school and middle school into 11 and 12 classes, respectively, with an average number of fewer than 30 students in each class to avoid crowdeding, according to Zhao Dawei, with the school’s student affairs office. Normally each class has more than 50 students. In Funing Middle School, students and teachers are all required to wear masks and keep safe distances in class, according to Qian.
Liu Junwen is a math teacher from Hohhot No. 4 Middle School. He returned to school early yesterday to take medical supplies and carefully check his teaching courseware.
“After such a long break, I have been looking forward to the day of the school reopening,” Liu said.
He said there are less than 70 days left for students in the third year of middle school to prepare for final exams, and teachers and students need to “get in sync” after a month of online teaching.
“We will try to make up for some deficiencies of online teaching through offline classes,” Liu said, adding that students can continue communicating with teachers through online platforms after school.
To make sure everything goes smoothly, Chinese teachers and staff carried out many measures, including taking temperatures, disinfection and mask-wearing.
Schools have also changed their student dining practices, as many parents show concern.
The No. 6 Middle School in the Jiangsu city of Wuxi conducted several drills, during which teachers played the roles of students and simulated multiple processes such as entering school, attending classes, washing hands and dinning.
Wuxi Meili Middle School requires several classes of students to dine in the classrooms while others go to the cafeteria where tables are installed with separating partitions.
But Beijing municipal authorities said the city has no plan for reopening schools and kindergartens at present. The city’s education commission said it is still too early to consider reopening schools.
Wu Zunyou, a researcher with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, last week urged schools in low-risk areas to take necessary measures for epidemic prevention. Abnormal body temperatures and suspicious symptoms should be reported to health authorities immediately.
Qi Yaling, a teacher from Jiangsu Taizhou High School, said that students should have confidence in the measures.
“They need to make scientific learning plans to keep up with the overall teaching schedule,” Qi said. “They also need to remain optimistic.”
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