How the coronavirus deepens the classroom divide for China’s schoolchildren
- Education authorities have ordered schools to conduct online lessons but the families of many rural pupils can’t afford to tap into cyberspace
- Other parents must leave their sons and daughters unattended at home as they continue to go to the office
Her two daughters, Ningning and Lele, should have returned to primary school last month after the Lunar New Year but instead the classes have been moved online and they remain at home on their farm in Zizhou county, Shaanxi province.
With one ageing smartphone between them and unable to afford broadband services or a computer, it’s been all play and no study for the children.
“They were happy in the beginning … But as time goes by, they feel frustrated – there is no teacher, and their mother can’t teach them,” said Huo, who is illiterate. “I hope they can go back to school soon.”
Children across the country have supposedly been attending online classes for nearly a month as required by educational authorities.
While some parents in affluent eastern regions have splashed out on new computers, smartphones, printers and even projectors to help reduce the strain of added screen time, many young children in mountainous and poverty-stricken areas like Zizhou have struggled simply to go online.