Beijing schools prepare for restart

More than 1,500 schools are ready to receive more than 400,000 elementary and middle school students in Beijing as they return to classes starting on June 1.

Apart from the routine work of normal times, schools in Beijing have made detailed preparations to minimize the possibility of coronavirus exposure, the city's education commission said.

Li Yi, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, said the schools should strengthen class management to minimize interactions between students and maintain safe social distancing. He also advised that various activities held at schools should be organized by class to avoid clustering.

"Individual class management helps teachers regulate students in a more orderly manner. Once something happens, it's easier to trace the origin of the problem," he said.

On Monday, all non-graduating middle school students and sixth-grade pupils will return to school. A week later on June 8, students in the fourth and fifth grades of primary school will be back in class.

"The first- to third-grade pupils will also gradually return to school," Li said.

To limit time of gathering, schools will have long and short courses, with the long ones lasting 60 minutes and short ones 40 minutes. Resting times will avoid peak hours, the city's education commission said.