Feb. 17 should have been the start of the spring semester for many middle and primary schools in China. However, to control the new coronavirus outbreak (新型冠状病毒疫情), many schools havedelayedthe start of the semester, following instructions from the Ministry of Education (MOE). But students in China are still studying.
Instead of having class at school, many students in Beijing and Guangzhou began their first day of online classes on Feb 17. Students in Shanghai will start online classes on March 2. “In the morning, I have English class, followed by Chinese and math,” Liu Bo, a Junior 3 student from Beijing, told Xinhua. “I have also learned about epidemic prevention.”
According to the MOE, students are mainly taking classes to review previous knowledge rather than taking new classes during the online study period. Online courses are required to include content about epidemic prevention, psychological health (心理健康) and educational activities (教育活动).
“Online courses are only temporary measures (暂时的措施) taken during the epidemic, so when the new semester begins, schools should not replace (替代) classroom teaching with online classes,” Lü Yugang from the ministry told China Daily.
The ministry also called on schools not to increase their students' schoolwork burden (负担). Schools should not ask students to study online for long periods of time or study things beyond (超出) their curriculum (课程). Students must have enough time to rest, the ministry added. Also, it stressed that protecting students' eyesight must be a priority (优先).
