Back to school for 40% of Chinese students

Beijing, May 12 (efe-epa).- More than 100 million Chinese students have returned to their classrooms, almost 40 per cent of the total number in the country, China’s education ministry said Tuesday.

Higher education has also resumed with university lectures resuming in all but five of the country’s 34 administrative provinces, according to authorities.

Wang Dengfeng, an education ministry official, said at a press conference that nearly three million university students had returned to classes.

More than 31 million pupils have gone back to secondary schools and another 44 million to primary schools across 21 provinces.

Pre-schools and kindergartens have also reopened in eight provinces in the country.

Wang said there was only one live Covid-19 infection among teachers or students in the country’s educational system and 14 asymptomatic patients who were under medical observation.

The confirmed case was reported in the northeast province of Heilongjiang, a person who had recently come into China from abroad.

A total of 43 imported cases have been reported among pupils and staff who have all been discharged, Wang added.

There are around 278 million students and 17 million staff in the country’s educational system.

Nearly 50,000 children resumed classes in Beijing on 27 April, only those in the final year of secondary or elementary school.