When China banned foreigners from entering due to COVID-19 a few months back, many teachers and staff at international schools around the country were amongst those stranded abroad. After months of teaching remotely from different time zones, there’s finally a bit of good news for the international education community.Over the past months, there were whispers that various international schools in Beijing have been working on obtaining visas for their faculty members, and this week Keystone Academy was able to confirm that the first group of teachers will be returning to Beijing.Keystone Academy issued an announcement through the school’s website, staying that the “School Leadership Team has been working closely with government authorities on reopening procedures, including the urgent task of bringing Keystone faculty members who are currently abroad back to China. Following a three-month effort, the Keystone Office of Government Relations and the administrative team announce that the school’s application for the visas of the first group of 14 foreign faculty, including some academic leaders and returning and new teachers, has been approved by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education and the Foreign Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipal Government. Keystone received this official notice on Friday, July 10.”
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The administrative team is also actively helping the second group of Keystone faculty with their visa applications so they can fly back to China as soon as possible. The school has not yet announced further details on when this first group of faculty will actually arrive but say they will keep its student body informed through the school’s website.As schools all around the city continue to handle all the difficulties caused by these uncertain times, this latest news from Keystone Academy is a little light at the end of the tunnel for the international education community.