A huge portion of our readership either works in or has children in Beijing’s vast system of public and private schools. The past two days have seen a flurry of information that has been next to impossible to keep up with, but here’s what we know through the end of the day (Tuesday, January 28):
The Education Ministry issued the following directive and also touched base directly with all private international schools regarding re-opening dates going forward.
All international schools (and local schools for that matter), from preschool through university, are now under order from the education ministry to open only when they say it is safe to do so.
Currently, the ministry’s directives make no mention of a specific opening date, but did say that the opening is likely to be “delayed”. Chinese public schools, which have longer breaks for Chinese New Year, were originally supposed to start on February 17; therefore it can be assumed that the re-opening date will definitely be after this date.
Most schools are now communicating with parents and staff to expect this to last quite a bit longer, and are making preparations to start online learning initiatives. We have been copied into many of the schools’ communications and all have been saying roughly the same thing: that no one is really sure when schools will resume, it will entirely depend on the scope of the outbreak later this month.
Some schools are asking personnel to return in February anyhow, as official sources are recommending school staff, as well as school students and their families, should return to Beijing two weeks in advance of the expected start date of school to go through a period of self-quarantine. The limited information that researchers know about the virus so far is that the likely maximum incubation time is 14 days, so two weeks at home will ensure school staff and family are free from any incidental exposure while away from the city or in transit back.
Photos: Unsplash
