Graduating students at local middle and high schools will be able to return to school on April 27, Lu Jing, director of the Shanghai Education Commission said on Thursday. Universities and secondary vocational schools can arrange for the return of graduating students after April 27, he added. All schools must make preparations for the return of other students before May 6, but the date for them to reopen will be decided based on developments of the pandemic and announced later. “One thing I want to point out is that we will be more cautious in deciding on the time for kindergarten students and low-grade primary school students to return to campus as they are at such young ages and need more care with weak self-protection ability,” he said. Training organizations should not resume operations before kindergartens and primary and secondary schools reopen, he added. Lu said online classes via TV and Internet for primary and secondary school students since March 2 were satisfactory and all schools will assess students’ performances on their return. “Schools will arrange campus teaching plans based on the assessment results,” he said. “At present, we will not ask schools to teach on weekends or delay the summer vacation. We will carry out follow-up monitoring and change teaching plans based on opinions from experts, faculty, students and parents, if necessary.” Some examinations have also been rescheduled. Among them, the college entrance examination has been postponed by a month to July 7 to 9 by the Ministry of Education. Lu said the high school entrance examination in Shanghai will be carried out on June 27 and 28, about two weeks later than in previous years. Meanwhile, there will be some changes in the PE test in the examination. The test has a total score of 30 points – 15 from assessment in class and 15 from a united test. This year, the united test will be canceled and all students will get the full 15 points in this part. Lu said educational authorities and schools are all making preparations, including reserving materials and arranging training and drills, to safeguard security of faculty and students. “The commission and district education bureaus will inspect schools before students return and those failing to make enough preparations would not be allowed to reopen,” he added. He said the city has issued guidelines for all schools in the city to prepare for reopening, such as preparing enough masks and temperature-measuring facilities in advance, arranging training and drills, and making plans for morning checks at school gates. “Students and schools are a special community and we will have higher standards in virus prevention and control,” said Lu. “We hope parents will understand and support us when the strict measures are carried out when schools reopen.” The announcement of a return date for graduating students eased parents’ anxieties somewhat. “I have been worried the whole semester they would have to study online and the high school entrance examination will be carried out in late July or even August when it’s very hot in Shanghai and thus not a good season for examination,” said a mother surnamed Liu, whose daughter is to graduate from a middle school this summer. “Teachers are working hard to help students learning online, but I think the campus is a better environment for study than home,” she said. “I’m glad my daughter will go back to school, studying together with her classmates and monitored more closely by teachers. It will make her more focused on her studies.” She said she believed the government and school will do their best to ensure the safety of students. “Think about the protective measures Shanghai has taken. The whole city has done a great job and I think we will continue to do so in the following days,” she said. School plans Li Baiyan, principal of Shanghai Jianping Experimental Middle School, said the school has drafted plans for reopening and emergency management and established schemes for 10 special items ranging from morning checks and students’ health management to disinfection and quarantine. “For example, we will ask parents to keep their children at home if they have a fever; if they are found with an abnormal temperature at the school gate, they will not be allowed to enter the campus; if they are found with a fever on campus, they will be brought to an observation area for further examination and treatment,” she said. “If a suspected or confirmed case is found, we will follow instructions from health authorities to track down all close contacts, disinfect the campus and inform parents,” she added. But she also pointed out that spring is a high season for respiratory diseases and parents don’t have to panic if some students have a fever. Wang Yang, principal of Caoyang No. 2 High School, said plans had been made for students of all three grades. “We have been checking information and health conditions of all faculty and students, no matter if they are in Shanghai or not,” he said. “We will also check their health condition in the 14 days prior to their return to the school and also those of security guards, dorm managers, canteen staff, cleaners and greenery workers. Every one returning will have to meet health requirements.” He said the school will arrange disinfection before students return and will organize drills on its plans for daily education, dining, dormitory life, using toilets and handling emergencies. All outsiders will be banned from the campus and activities not relevant to education will be suspended. Li said Jianping has been organizing morning class meetings every workday and Friday meetings to exchange views on learning in the past week to ensure quality of online learning. Psychological classes and consultation services are also available to its students. “The effect of online learning in the past month is better than expected,” she said. “We are making plans to connect online and offline classes and will provide extra help for students with special needs after they return to school.” Wang said his school had completed a survey with teachers and students about the difference between online and offline learning. “It’s the first time for us to organize all classes online and we found the teaching content is enough for students, but we need more face-to-face communication in learning abstract content and developing high-level critical thinking ability,” he said. “We will adjust our plans for their learning on campus later.” Wang said the school will produce a report on each student’s online learning based on assessment on their return. Teachers will arrange catch-up classes if necessary and spend more time in answering questions from students. The school will also guide students to resume normal study rhythms and provide them with psychological services. Checking health Universities are also taking action. Wang Xiaofan, vice president of Shanghai University, said it had made plans to welcome students back to school in different time periods. “We have developed a health information platform during the pandemic and know about the health of faculty and students as they are required to report their health condition on a daily basis,” said Wang. “We have installed automatic temperature screening devices at all campus gates to check temperatures of incomers.” He said the university will carry out inspections of canteens, classrooms, offices and labs, as well as work on food processing and waste disposal to ensure a safe campus to welcome students back. Public space will be disinfected and equipped with hand washing and disinfection products. It will also ensure that stores inside the university have sufficient supplies of daily necessities for students and faculty living on campus. For graduating students, teachers have been mentoring them on dissertation writing and the university has also opened 10 data libraries for them to use. “We will enhance mentoring for them when they come back and provide priority assistance to students who need experiments at labs to finish their dissertations,” said Wang. He said the university has also been working hard to help graduating students in seeking jobs, such as launching online job fairs, streamlining employment procedures and allowing students and employers to sign employment contracts online. Since February, 1,193 employers have registered on its website and released 4,584 positions.