Coronavirus: students go back to school in China after authorities say pandemic is under control

Name: Schools across China reopen as officials say Covid-19 is under control
Uploaded: 2020-08-31T12:30:17.000Z
Duration: 2 min 27 s
Description: Schools across China reopen as officials say Covid-19 is under control

Campuses across the country – from kindergarten to university – started a staggered reopening from Monday

But the new academic year will begin online in Xinjiang after recent outbreak of cases

Reading Time:3 minutes

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Students were back in the classroom at the Daowu Middle School in Liuyang, Changsha, on Monday. Schools in the Hunan capital were among the first to reopen. Photo: Xinhua

Alice Yan

Published: 8:30pm, 31 Aug 2020Updated: 7:33pm, 1 Sep 2020

Hundreds of millions of students across China have begun returning to the classroom, after education authorities hailed a “decisive victory” against the coronavirus.

The Ministry of Education has given the go-ahead for all schools to reopen – except in Xinjiang – from Monday, saying the pandemic is under control and some 280 million students can begin the autumn semester on campus.

02:27

Schools across China reopen as officials say Covid-19 is under control

In Xinjiang, however, students will begin the new school year online. The region has seen a fresh outbreak of cases in recent months, though authorities last week relaxed strict lockdown measures on the capital, Urumqi.

Elsewhere in China, most kindergartens, primary and middle schools and universities will begin a staggered reopening for the new semester until the end of September. Some universities would open their doors again at the start of October, the ministry said.

Temperature checks will be part of the school day at campuses across China. Photo: Xinhua

Wang Dengfeng, an official in charge of virus prevention at the Ministry of Education, said although the goal was to “resume order in education”, local governments should not relax efforts to contain the pandemic.

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