Ensuring safety should be the prerequisite for classes resumption
across China as the COVID-19 epidemic situation has been eased, an
official with the Ministry of Education (MOE) said in a recent
interview. Some grades of primary and secondary schools in all provincial-level
areas in China have decided to resume classes, said Wang Dengfeng,
director of the MOE leading group office on the COVID-19 response,
noting the estimated intensive classes resumption in May will be a big
test for education authorities. Education organs have ordered differentiated schedules for primary
and secondary schools to start new semesters, allowing senior students
to resume classes in advance, Wang said, adding that more students will
be back to campus as more epidemic containment measures are in place. Wang underscored that schools are allowed to resume operation only
when the epidemic is basically controlled and the epidemic prevention
measures are adopted to protect the health of teachers and students on
campus. The MOE also required schools to roll out contingency plans to cope
with the risk of virus transmission before resuming classes, Wang said,
noting that some schools are devising emergency response plans,
demanding special vehicles to transfer people with symptoms including
fever and cough or confirmed COVID-19 cases to hospitals.
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