Photo:Cui Meng/GT

Eight months after the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the country, about 1.4 million students from 2,842 middle schools, primary schools and kindergartens in the once hardest-hit city of Wuhan have once again shown up at school gates on Tuesday morning, ready to embrace their long-expected fall semester. 

Schools are taking strict preventive measures such as body temperature check, disinfectant work. It's not mandatory to wear masks at campus but students should always bring them. There have also been emergency-responding plans in case students have fever or cough symptoms, some teachers told the Global Times. 

Schools have adopted a meticulous management system, including daily report, attendance registration and morning and evening checks, to ensure the timely monitoring of health status of all students and school staff. Closed-cycle management has also been applied to school campuses, dormitories and staff residential areas, the People's Daily reported on Friday. 

Concerned about the mental wellbeing of students, especially those who suffered losses of family members during the pandemic, a local high school supervisor surnamed Wan told the Global Times on Tuesday that they have set up mental health courses and prepared psychological counseling services for those in need.

"For lunch, we have strengthened sanitation management, including air ventilation and disinfection of tables, chairs and floors before the canteen opens. For reusable dining utensils, we will disinfect them before use; canteen staff are also required to wear protective masks during working hours," said Wan.

Local police have been mobilized to safeguard school students and staff from potential contagion risks. Two days ahead of school's reopening, city government dispatched special teams from 15 police stations covering all middle schools, primary schools and kindergartens to conduct a two-day cross-examination of the campus security preparation, thepaper.cn reported Monday.  

The annual TV program, "First Class for the New Term", which has been aired in September to celebrate the upcoming school semester for 12 consecutive years, will be recorded both in Beijing and Wuhan this year. Epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan, who was awarded Medal of the Republic by President Xi Jinping in August for his outstanding contributions in China's fight against COVID-19, will be present at the program sharing his stories, along with China's top medical adviser Zhang Boli and top Chinese vaccine researcher Chen Wei.