New first-graders raise their hands, showing their excitement at starting their school lives at an orientation ceremony of an elementary school in Suining county, East China's Jiangsu Province on August 29, 2022. Photo: VCG

 China's Ministry of Education has vowed to avoid large-scale COVID-19 infections in campuses as students are about to go back to their classrooms from Thursday.

In a recent national education system meeting aimed at arranging anti-epidemic measures for the new semester, the Ministry of Education told schools to draw up specific arrangements and emergency response plans to make sure students and school staff can return in a safe and orderly way.

The ministry emphasized the coordination of epidemic prevention with teaching activities, and minimizing the impact of COVID-19 with scientific and precise measures based on the sixth version of the anti-epidemic technical plans for colleges, primary and high schools, and kindergartens.

The sixth version of the anti-epidemic technical plans for schools was released by the ministry a week ago, at which time schools were asked to get fully prepared for daily epidemic monitoring and prevention, and especially quick and efficient responses to possible sudden outbreaks.

Although the fall semester officially begins on Thursday, schools in multiple Chinese cities have postponed the start of the new semester due to the pressure of local COVID-19 flare-ups.

Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province on Wednesday delayed the return of students from kindergartens to high schools, except for graduating class students in senior high schools who are all able to live within the campus. Instead, the opening ceremony will be held online on Thursday, and teaching activities will be carried out online until the reopening date is settled.

Although kindergartens, primary schools and middle schools in Beijing will open normally for the upcoming new semester on Thursday, the city faces continuous pressure and testing against COVID-19 given the increasing risk from the large-scale movement of people, including those who come back to Beijing for school or after the summer vacation, Xu Hejian, spokesperson for the Beijing municipal government, said on Wednesday at a press conference.

A parent surnamed Song, whose child is a sixth-grader in Beijing's Haidian district, told the Global Times on Wednesday that she prepared all the notebooks, exercise books and stationery for the new semester, but had to use the photo-editing app to piece together the pictures showing the 48-hour nucleic acid test results of the child, herself and her husband as the school required.

"The kindergarten required us to return to Beijing by August 10 and report the daily temperatures and medical records of the child and the parents," said a woman surnamed Zhang, whose child will go back to a kindergarten in Beijing's Chaoyang district.

Zhang said all the family members living with the child had to take a nucleic acid test on Tuesday and hand in the results, as well as detailed family members' information, before 11 am on Wednesday.

Song said she became particularly nervous after a confirmed local case was reported at the community level in Haidian district on Wednesday.

"I don't know if it will affect the original schedule of school reopening. If she can't return to school next week, I can hardly cope with fighting on two fronts-babysitting her and working, especially since my mother, who used to help, is away at the moment," Song said.

According to Beijing health officials, college students in Beijing will return to their schools in different batches, and there are more than 104,000 students from 35 universities in that category.

More than 20 colleges and universities across China including schools in Beijing, Northwest China's Shaanxi, East China's Fujian, South China's Hainan, Northeast China's Liaoning and Jilin provinces, decided to postpone the start of the new semester due to local outbreaks.

Some primary and middle schools in Southwest China's Sichuan, Central China's Henan and Northeast China's Liaoning provinces have also postponed their starting dates. 

According to the National Health Commission, the Chinese mainland reported 349 locally transmitted confirmed cases and 1,326 asymptomatic cases on Tuesday.