China Xinjiang&Qinghai to partially resume schools
(Photo: VCG)
URUMQI, March 11 (Xinhua) -- High school students who are going to graduate this year will resume school Monday in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus had delayed their new semester.
The third-graders of the junior and senior high, as well as the graduating classes in vocational schools, will be the first batch of students returning to school, according to a circular issued on Wednesday by the regional department of education.
The students would be divided into small classes, with no more than 30 in each classroom, the circular said.
All the faculty and students should have meals separately, and sports, cultural and art activities with mass gathering should be avoided, it said.
Educational departments at various levels should support the schools to prepare for the anti-epidemic materials.
The schools will be under closed-off management, forbidding any unrelated personnel to enter, the circular said.
The last patient infected with COVID-19 in Xinjiang was cured and discharged from the hospital on Sunday, bringing the existing number of COVID-19 cases in the region to zero.
Both the autonomous region and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have downgraded their emergency response toward the novel coronavirus outbreak from Level II to Level III.
Schools start classes again in Qinghai.Other provinces where the risk of virus transmission is low will follow suit soon
A teacher explains epidemic control knowledge on the first school day after a long winter holiday due to the coronavirus outbreak at Haidong Second Senior High School in Haidong city, Qinghai province, on Monday. (Photos: Xinhua)
Classes
resumed at some schools in Qinghai province on Monday, and more
provinces are expected to follow suit next week as the novel coronavirus
outbreak is brought under control.
Qinghai's provincial
government said its senior high schools and secondary vocational schools
had been given the green light to resume classes this week, with junior
middle schools to be allowed to reopen next week.
The province's
colleges and universities, including vocational colleges, started
e-learning classes on March 1 in accordance with Ministry of Education
regulations, the government said in a statement issued on Feb 28, adding
that the starting date for the new semester for primary schools,
special education schools and kindergartens had yet to be decided.
The
Huzhu No 3 Middle School in Huzhu Tu autonomous county in Haidong,
Qinghai, resumed its 16 Grade 3 classes on Monday, with other classes to
follow in the coming days.
Students are required to have their
temperature checked every day, maintain a distance of 1 meter from each
other, and each is given a new face mask every second day.
Ma
Kyimotso, a member of the Tibetan ethnic group who studies at the
school, said she was very excited about the resumption of classes on
Monday, despite enduring an adventurous journey along mountain roads in
heavy snow to get there.
"I have to take the college entrance exam
in a few months, and both my family and I have been expecting an early
resumption of the semester in the last few weeks," she said, adding that
e-learning at home was not as good as studying in the classroom.
She
said that to ensure students' safety, the school allowed one class to
pass through the school gates every 40 minutes on Monday.
"My father and I waited for hours in the car while waiting to enter," she said.
Her
father, Kalzang Drondrub, said he was pleased that his daughter was
returning to school, and he expected she would have a better study
environment there.
"The mountain road was dangerous due to the heavy snowfall, but the risk was worthwhile compared with waiting at home," he said.
Classes resumes at some schools in Qinghai province on Monday.
On
Monday, the Second Nationalities High School of Qinghai's Yushu Tibetan
autonomous prefecture also resumed classes, with the first lessons
covering the maintenance of health and how to respond to emergencies,
Xinhua News Agency reported.
Yang Fayu, deputy head of the
provincial Education Department, said it has inspected 144 schools since
March 6, and so far they have all met the standards required to resume
classes.
"Every corner of the schools is disinfected regularly,"
said Yang, adding that more than 1,000 medical workers have been
dispatched to schools to conduct public health tasks such as teaching
epidemic prevention knowledge and skills, disinfecting areas and
checking body temperatures every day.
To ensure schools can reopen
safely, the provincial Industry and Information Technology Department
has been distributing epidemic prevention supplies, including protective
gear.
In Guizhou province, Grade 3 classes at senior high and
junior middle schools are expected to start the new semester by Monday,
along with some schools in Jiangsu province.
The spring semester in the Tibet autonomous region will start by March 20.
In
big cities like Beijing, which are at greater risk from imported cases
of infection, schools have been told to stick to e-learning at home.
By Sunday, five provinces and autonomous regions and Macao had been declared clear of novel coronavirus infections.
All
infected patients in Anhui, Fujian and Qinghai provinces, and in the
Tibet and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions and Macao have recovered and
were discharged from hospitals.
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