Meticulous plans created to ensure students’ safe return to school

A woman cleans a classroom at Shenzhen Experimental School Bantian campus in Longgang District yesterday as the school braces for students’ return. Courtesy of Shenzhen Experimental School

As Shenzhen students will return to face-to-face learning in batches starting tomorrow, the city has worked out meticulous plans to ensure students have a smooth and safe return to campus.

Chen Qiuming, director of the Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau, illustrated the plans at a news conference yesterday.

All students and their family members who live together are required to undergo nucleic acid tests for three consecutive days prior to the return date and need to get a QR code from the head teacher of their classes two days ahead of return to report health information including COVID test results.

School faculty and staff also need to report health information as required before returning to campus, according to the plans.

In addition, schools should ensure anti-pandemic materials and emergency response plans are in place and conduct mock drills in advance.

District task forces responsible for campus pandemic control and prevention work will check on schools to ensure they meet requirements before giving the green light for reopening.

Schools located in lockdown and control areas have been told to push back the return-to-school dates.

Related departments of each district will help ensure smooth COVID tests at schools after the students return.

Schools should establish a whitelist that only allows those on the list to enter the campus, adopt a no-contact delivery policy, and reduce gatherings and crowds on schoolyards.

In order to help students make a successful transition to in-person learning and care, the main teaching schedule for the first week has been designed to focus on anti-pandemic education and a review of contents delivered on previous online classes. At the same time, exams are forbidden in the first two weeks, with the exception of students in their final year of junior and senior high schools, according to Chen.

Meanwhile, the city’s education bureau said it is working on the scheme for this year’s sports test for the senior high school entrance examination and will announce it once a decision is made.

Qiu Chengyu, deputy director of the Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau, advised parents to follow schools’ instructions and the city’s health management rules if they are returning from places outside the city and take their children to get COVID vaccines as soon as possible.

According to the bureau, 10th and 11th grade students will return to school tomorrow while students in other grades including kindergarteners will return to school in different batches starting Monday.