A few schools resume in Qinghai province

Some schools have been deemed safe to resume classwork on Monday in Qinghai province, given the progress against the novel coronavirus.

According to a statement released on the province's website, senior high schools and secondary vocational schools will resume between Monday and Friday, and junior middle schools will resume between March 16 and 20.

According to the statement, the province's colleges and universities, including high vocational schools, switched to e-learning classes on March 1 in accordance with directives from the Ministry of Education. Exactly when the province's primary schools, special education schools and kindergartens will resume is unknown.

Ma Kyimotso, 20, in Huzhu Tu autonomous county of Haidong city, was excited about the resumption of classes at her school on Monday, despite an adventurous ride through the mountains during a heavy snowfall.

Like most of other senior high schools in the city, Huzhu No 3 Middle School announced that the semester would begin on Monday.

"I have to take the college entrance exam in 90 days, and both my family and I have been expecting school to resume," Ma Kyimotso said, adding that e-learning at home was not as good as studying in the classroom.

She said only 16 third grade classes at her school had resumed on Monday; the other two grades will start in coming days.

"Out of safety concerns, the school only allows one class to enter the school entrance once every 40 minutes," she said. "My father and I waited in the car outside.

"According to the new regulations, the students are required to have a body temperature check every day and to maintain a distance of 1 meter from others. Each student receives a new face mask once every two days."

Second Nationalities High School in Qinghai's Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefecture and Minhe Second Middle School in the province's Haidong city also resumed on Monday.