Nearly 50,000 senior students return to high schools in Beijing

Students from one class are separated into two different classrooms at Beijing No. 161 High School in Beijing, capital of China, April 27, 2020. Senior high schools in Beijing on Monday restarted classes for seniors, who will take the national college entrance exam on July 7-10. (Xinhua/Peng Ziyang)

BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 50,000 senior students of high schools in Beijing returned to campus to start their postponed new semester on Monday as the COVID-19 epidemic situation has been eased.

Many schools have launched educational activities themed on epidemic prevention and control as their first class after reopening.

According to the Beijing municipal education commission, there are 51,226 students in grade three in Beijing's high schools this year. They will take the national college entrance exam, also known as Gaokao, from July 7 to July 10.

At present, 49,979 such students have met the conditions for returning to school. More than 1,200 students are temporarily unable to return to school due to various reasons. Among them, more than 800 students are in quarantine in Beijing, and more than 300 students are currently outside the nation's capital.

"Before the school reopening, all the students who returned from other places to Beijing had received 14 days of home quarantine and daily body temperature monitoring. Since April 6, teachers and students returning from other places have undergone nucleic acid testing in addition to 14 days of home isolation. If the results are negative, they are allowed to go back to school," said Wang Jun, Party chief and president of the High School Affiliated to China Agricultural University.

Many high schools have also provided guidance to the students' parents via various ways such as organizing online meetings and sending letters to help students prepare for returning to school.