Students in capital back in time for Children's Day

Students who are in their final year of primary school in Beijing avoided missing the chance to spend their last Children's Day with their teachers and classmates as they went back to campus on Monday.

"We have only one month left to spend with our primary school classmates, so I was so happy to be back at school," said Wang Zichen, a Grade 6 student in Beijing Fengtai No 1 Primary School.

According to a plan by the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, students in Grade 6 in primary school, as well as all other junior high and senior high school students, were allowed to go back to school on Monday. Students in the final year of high school returned in April, and those in the final year of junior high went back in May.

Monday's group was the first batch of primary school students in the capital to return to campus after the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Students in Grades 4 and 5 in primary schools will resume class on June 8, and those in Grade 1 to Grade 3 should get prepared for school openings and await further notice.

Commission spokesman Li Yi said around 1,000 schools in the capital have passed resumption standards set by the commission to adhere to Beijing's COVID-19 epidemic control and prevention measures.

In addition to the strict measures, many schools prepared a special first class for their students.

In Beijing Fengtai No 1 Primary School, 900 students in Grade 6 and their teachers went into the school in three batches, getting their temperatures checked before entering.

They attended their first class to learn about the public health and emergency management efforts at the school and got the chance to share their feelings about their stay at home over the past few months.

"The experience of studying at home has made me more self-disciplined," said student Tong Yani. "My parents resumed work last month. I could not help playing with my cell phone from time to time while I studied online, even though I knew it was not right."

"Gradually, I found that I was lagging behind a lot of my classmates, so I started concentrating on studying."

The school's psychology teacher has designed activities for students to share their negative feelings about their time at home and to get them mentally prepared for school resumption.

To celebrate Children's Day, the school's canteen prepared special cakes, which were warmly received by the students.