Wearing masks, going through infrared thermometers and washing hands at sanitation stations ― about 1.5 million primary and secondary school students returned to campus on Tuesday morning to start the new semester. At Xuhui Experimental Primary School in Xuhui District, parents began dropping their children at the school gate before 7am. Already familiar with pandemic prevention measures, which were already in place last semester, students entered the campus quickly. "Everything is smooth for me. My parents prepared my uniforms several days before. I got the new textbooks yesterday, so I rapped them with protective covers and reviewed the content to be taught these days," said Shen Jiachen, a fifth-grader. "I'm excited to see my teachers and classmates again after the two-month summer vacation." Clean plates As China is fighting the problem of food waste and fostering a societal attitude that stigmatizes wasteful practices, many schools hosted activities on the first day of the new semester to call for "clean-plate" dining habits among students. At Xuhui Experimental Primary School, students performed an original folk song about the hardships of farm work and food making and the importance of curbing food waste. Several student representatives visited the kitchen of the school to see how lunch is prepared. Their visit was watched by all the 1,200 schoolmates in the classrooms via Internet. "The kitchen staff work very hard. We saw them wash and cut a lot of vegetables," said Ye Runyang, a fifth-grader. "I was deeply impressed by their laborious work and I think we should not waste any food prepared by them." Ye said her family had already started a "clean-plate" campaign at home. "My father used to cook six to eight dishes to give us plenty of choices. But we actually could not finish all of them and dropped the rest as wet garbage. Now he cooks four to five dishes and we eat up almost all of them every day." The school officially issued a proposal on Tuesday, advocating clean plates among all students. It also launched a campaign, inviting students and their families to show what they achieve at home in 21 consecutive days. "Family is the smallest unit in society and we wish our students will bring the frugal concept to their families and build up an environment to reduce food waste," said Jiao Yiping, principal of the school. "I will participate in the school campaign and show clean plates every day," said Ye. Lunch in the school is now served in two sizes, instead of one as before. "Lunch used to same for first- to fifth-graders before and some students could not finisheverything," said Jiao. "Now we offer two options: a small size with 40 grams of rice and a large size with 55 grams. Dishes in the smaller size are also given with a smaller portion. Students can ask for more if they need after finishing all the food. We've carried out a survey among all the students and about one-third chose the small size. They can adjust their options in the first week." Shanghai Daily saw that most first- and second-graders chose the small size for their lunch and most of them finished all the rice and dishes, including Li Sicheng, a second-grader. "Last semester, I could not finish all the food as the portion was big," he said. "This semester, my parents ordered the smaller size for me. I can ask the teachers for more if I need, but if I order the big size, I have to pour the leftover into the garbage bin if I can't eat everything." At the Luwan No. 1 Central Primary School, students and teachers also started the "clean-plate" campaign on the first day of the new semester. Teachers had lunch together with students in the canteen and behaved as role models. Online classes Although most local students have returned to school, some in places of high risk of COVID-19 will continue their studies with online classes offered by the Shanghai Education Commission. More than 5,000 classes were offered via cable TV and Internet last semester as students and teachers were stuck at home. "We have started recording classes for the new semester and at least one week of classes is ready," said Wang Yuefen, deputy director of the commission's teaching research office. "The videos will be not only classes for students who cannot return to school, but also review resources for students and materials for teachers to prepare their offline classes," she said. Police efforts A total of 32,000 police officers, police assistants, security guards and volunteers safeguarded Shanghai students who went to school on the first day of the new semester at over 3,000 schools and kindergartens. Shanghai police said they carried out a two-week campaign to remove safety hazards around schools and kindergartens before the new semester started, together with law enforcers from the culture, market inspection and urban management authorities. Also, the police said they will step up patrols around schools in the morning and afternoon and strive to uncover and remove criminal activities. Under the supervision of the police, schools are expected to strictly register all visitors to the campuses. In the morning and afternoon, schools will have two more security guards at their gates to ensure the safety of students, and one community security guard armed with safety equipment will be within 100 meters of each school, police said.