BEIJING • With a mixture of nerves and excitement, many children across China kicked off a new school year yesterday.
For about 200 first graders at Chengdu Garden (International) Primary School, in south-west China's Sichuan province, a brief ceremony was held in the morning to mark a special moment - their first day at school.
Each pupil had a ribbon tied on their left wrist, symbolising hope for the new beginning.
"I'm already missing my baby, and I don't know if he can adapt well," said a parent surnamed Ma.
Besides a full set of stationery, she also bought masks, paper towels and hand sanitiser for her son.
"I am worried about him and hope he will have a good day."
At 7.40am, a kindergarten in Wuhan, a city once hit hard by the coronavirus, welcomed its first batch of pupils. Ms Hu Meng, a teacher, greeted every one of the 18 children in her class.
According to Ms Hu, she and four other teachers had begun preparing for the new semester since May.
After rounds of disinfection and epidemic prevention drills, the kindergarten finally opened yesterday, with comics and light-hearted slogans on epidemic prevention seen around the school.
Official data shows that a total of 2,842 kindergartens, primary and secondary schools in Wuhan opened their doors yesterday, to welcome some 1.4 million students.
Mr Wang Chifu, deputy director of the city's education bureau, said primary and secondary school students in Wuhan should carry masks with them, but they do not have to wear them at school.
Wuhan currently has no confirmed Covid-19 cases.
Nationwide, there were a total of 216 confirmed Covid-19 cases on the Chinese mainland as of Monday.
Though the pandemic has waned in China, schools at all levels still took strict anti-epidemic measures to safeguard the health of students.
At about 7am, senior students at Wuhan No. 49 Middle School stepped onto campus for a new semester. After having their temperatures taken, they were guided to their classrooms along a specially-designed route.
Ten minutes later, students from another grade entered the school through another route.
"The safety and health of teachers and students are our top priority," said school official Yin Weiguo.
"A thorough disinfection has been conducted in all classrooms, canteens, dormitories and toilets and will be carried out every day.
"Anti-epidemic supplies such as masks and hand sanitiser are also available in each classroom."
Similar measures are being implemented in schools across the country, with students in Shanghai, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Yunnan also ushering in their new semesters yesterday.
"The biggest change this semester is that we no longer have to wear masks in class," said Gan Siqi, a second grader at a junior high school in Liuyang city, in central China's Hunan province.
"Though we still have to take body temperatures regularly, we're not as nervous as last semester."
XINHUA
