With schools remaining closed during coronavirus outbreak, China launches national remote learning platforms
- A new national cloud learning platform will provide junior and senior high school students with study resources online
- At the same time, educational content will be broadcast on national TV for primary school students
At the same time, classes for primary school students will be broadcast on state-broadcaster CCTV’s China Education Television Channel 4. The division of learning platforms for different levels of students is to limit the time primary school students spend online and “protect the students’ eyesight”, as well as prevent network congestion from too many students going online at the same time, the MOE said in the statement.
The move toward remote learning comes as schools have postponed the upcoming spring semester until further notice. Chinese authorities have encouraged people to stay at home to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus through human-to-human contact.
China’s schools embrace online learning as coronavirus cancels classes
On the national cloud learning platform, 169 lessons were introduced for the first week, covering 12 subjects for junior and senior high school based on the national curriculum, according to CCTV News. The national broadcaster added that the materials will be supplemented by key teachers from Beijing and other cities as needed.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also roped in the three major telecommunications operators – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom – and tech companies including Baidu, Alibaba and Huawei to back up the e-learning platform with 7,000 servers and 90 terabytes of bandwidth. This is to ensure that it can run smoothly with up to 50 million students using it at the same time, CCTV reported.
The health crisis has put the spotlight on China’s online education market, which grew 25.7 per cent year-on-year in 2018 to 251.7 billion yuan (US$35.9 billion), according to iResearch Consulting Group. The previous forecast of annual growth of between 16 per cent to 24 per cent in the subsequent three to five years may now need to be revised upwards, the research firm said.
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