Despite the fact that schools across Mainland China have started opening their doors, some as early as Mar 13, there’s seemingly no end in sight for Beijing’s youth, who are itching to get off e-learning and into the classroom. 

Yesterday, Beijing’s Education Commission stated that the time still isn’t right to announce a plan for a return to schools in the Capital, however, they did concede that “The Municipal Education Commission has an overall plan for the start of school,” adding, “There are detailed plans for starting school in batches, grades, and phases.”

So while it seems that a plan has been worked out, various factors still preclude an official announcement. For instance, given that the impacts of COVID-19 are continuing to ripple across Beijing, both in terms of imported cases and asymptomatic transmissions, it’s still too early to guarantee the safety of children and staff in a school setting. Additionally, it will take some time for school personnel to sanitize their facilities and come up with preventative measures that ensure the school remains virus free

Aside from that, the Commission did offer some insights regarding a tentative timetable and making up for lost class time.

According to Li Yi, Deputy Secretary of Beijing’s Education Commission, with the exception of students in graduating classes, so those in 9th and 12th grade, there is no intention to carry the school year into summer, or require kids to attend school on Saturdays and Sundays.

Moreover, Li reiterated the fact that schools will be opened gradually, by grade, and that preschools will likely be the last to open, due to higher standards of virus protection. Additionally, parents should talk directly to schools regarding refund policies.

As for extracurricular learning facilities, the ministry also indicated that after-school and private part-time education organizations shall remain closed until further notice.

Photos: Feliphe Schiarolli via Unsplash

While parents and kids in Beijing eagerly await the news that they can return to schools, provinces across the country, as well as Inner Mongolia, have begun reopening their campuses to high school and middle school seniors, hoping to keep those students on track to graduate in a few months’ time.

To date, schools in Guizhou, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Guangxi, and Inner Mongolia have reopened, or will be soon.

Given the mandatory 14-day quarantine period that’s been in place for a while now, some schools have been able to give their communities at least two weeks’ notice before classes resume. For instance, Guizhou Province announced on Feb 27 that high school seniors and middle school 9th graders would begin school on Mar 16, effectively giving staff and families 17 days to prepare.

Not all schools have given that amount of time though. Qinghai Province announced on Feb 28 that high school seniors would return on Mar 11, one day shy of the requisite 14-day period. Likewise, juniors started one day later, on Mar 12, and sophomores returned Mar 13, with middle school students’ return staggered throughout the following week.

The shortest notice was given to high school seniors and 9th graders in Xinjiang Province, who were told on Mar 11 that they would return to campus just five days later, on Mar 16. However given that at the time the announcement was made, the last new COVID-19 infection in Xinjiang had occurred on Feb 17, and the last hospitalized patient was released on Mar 8, it’s safe to assume that the virus was well-contained ahead of the school’s reopening.

What’s more, two days after announcing that 9th and 12th graders would return to school, Xinjiang became the first province to announce the reopening of all grade levels, which will take place on Mar 23.

What’s clear is that all provinces are following the Ministry of Education’s guidelines to bring students back in stages, starting with older kids and gradually ushering in elementary and early years learners.

Unfortunately, some guidelines stipulate that international schools will be the second to last to resume, only behind universities, presumably because so many of those students are still overseas.

Universities will be the very last to reopen, given that 10 million of China’s 40 million university students go to school in provinces other than their own.

For all the latest updates on school news, be sure to follow our blog.

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China’s Ministry of Education (MOE) said yesterday that K-12 schools will be the first to reopen once COVID-19 is sufficiently contained, with universities to follow sometime after, Beijing News reports.

According to Wang Dengfeng, the director of MOE’s COVID-19 task force, the top priority will be getting all primary and secondary schools settled, and only then will they consider reopening universities.

Wang also said it is possible that schools could add weekend classes to their schedule to make up lost time, China Daily reported.

Of the more than 40 million college students across China, more than 10 million attend school outside their home province. With so many students traveling back to campus, most of whom would have to rely on trains and planes to get across the country, the migration could upend months of painstaking work to control the spread of the virus, the ministry said.

By the time all grade levels have resumed onsite learning, over 300 million students will be moving around their cities, potentially swapping both germs and quarantine stories.

Given that very few provinces have settled on opening dates for K-12 schools, it could be a while yet for the nation’s universities.

Though some provinces have begun slowly ushering students back onto campus, there’s still no date announced for Beijing. Follow our blog here for the latest updates.

Photos: quickenloans.com