Students starting new semester have more after-school options
SCHOOLS in Shanghai began their new semester yesterday.
At Minhang Experimental Primary School, more than 7,000 students filled its four campuses, undergoing strict COVID-19 pandemic prevention measures, including wearing masks and checking temperatures.
Although campuses usually open at 7:30am and the temperature climbed above 33 degrees Celsius, some students and parents arrived at the campus as early as 7am.
At the Chuncheng campus, many parents of first-grade students took photos of their children to record the moment. “My son is a fifth-grader at the school and my daughter is a first-grader,” said a mother surnamed Gu. “Now I can take them to school together and save the trouble of rushing between the school and the kindergarten. I just took a photo of them in front of the gate and posted it on WeChat to celebrate.”
Some parents were worried whether their children could adapt to primary school life and lingered near the gate.
Yang Chenyan, director of the campus’ student affairs office, said they had anticipated that some new students might get lost as they had visited the campus only once prior. The school has deployed older student volunteers to guide the younger students to their classrooms in the morning.
As this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the school arranged a special session during the opening ceremony to pay tribute to the CPC’s history.
Yang said the first class
for students did not involve regular subject matter but was focused on summarizing their summer vacation and establishing goals for the new semester.
“Some of our students have visited CPC members and some said they were impressed by the athletes at the Tokyo Olympics. They shared these role models’ stories with their classmates,” she said. “Our students have also delivered charity services during the summer vacation, and each class voted to select model charitable students. After that, students set up their goals to start their new semester with a well-oriented beginning.”
Zhang Jun, the campus’ principal, said all the classrooms have been installed with airconditioning. So despite the scorching weather, students
can have lessons in a comfortable environment.
There is a new routine after class, too.
With China trying to ease the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring on young minds, the school is seeing an increase in demand for after-school service this semester. Students now have three options: They can choose to stay on campus until 4:30pm, 5:15pm or 6pm.
According to Zhang, only 63 of its nearly 2,000 students have not signed up for the after-school service, representing a dramatic decline from last semester. Additionally, the number of students choosing to stay until 5:15pm increased from 19 to more than 200. There are 39 students who will stay till 6pm; up from zero last semester.
“During the past year, parents had to find off-campus care or tutoring organizations to take care of their children after school, but now that they have all become aware of the service we provide on campus, they’ve turned to us,” she said.
Zhang said before 4:30pm, the focus is mainly on guiding students in doing their homework. In the second phase, there are various activities, ranging from reading and calligraphy to board games and drama appreciation. In the third phase, students can make their own arrangements.
“They can continue working on their homework if they haven’t finished during first period, and they can also ask teachers for help, or they can read or paint. It’s up to them,” said Zhang.