Shanghai Students to Study at Home From March Due to Virus
Xia Ruirui
DATE:  Feb 19 2020
/ SOURCE:  yicai
Shanghai Students to Study at Home From March Due to Virus Shanghai Students to Study at Home From March Due to Virus

(Yicai Global) Feb. 18 -- Shanghai's student population will take part in lessons from home from next month to ensure their well-being and that of their teachers during the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to the city's education department.

The city's higher education institutions as well as primary and secondary schools will start online classes from March 2, the Shanghai Education Commission said today.

The reopening of China's schools after the winter vacation and extended Chinese New Year holiday has been put off indefinitely because of the virus outbreak.

"Children are our future, our hope, and we will do our best to work with the whole of society to protect and nurture our future," Lu Jing, the commission's director, told a press conference.

The date for reopening schools will be determined later after scientific assessment, Lu said, adding that the public will be told once the date is determined.

Tutoring or training institutions and nurseries are not allowed to carry out offline training and childcare during the special period, he said.

The commission's arrangements for online education, including the schedule, length of each class and the total time each pupil spends online, are reasonable, Lu noted. For example, for primary school, each online class lasts 20 minutes, 15 minutes shorter than the offline course.

The total amount of time each student needs to watch online courses per day is essentially no more than two hours. Online education for colleges will be carried out by each university according to its own characteristics and circumstances.

Most of the courses for primary and secondary schools will be played on television. Students who can't watch TV, can access the courses via various kinds of devices such as computers, tablets and mobile phones, according to Lu. More than 1,000 local teachers have contributed to the course recording.

Editor: Peter Thomas

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Keywords:   novel coronavirus,Shanghai,students,study at home