Zhang Qian

    zhqcindy@163.com

    Whether you are ready to bid farewell to your joyful winter holiday or not, it’s time to return to school and start a new semester. All schools in Shenzhen welcomed their students back to campus on Monday, with the flag-raising ceremonies held to mark the beginning of the new semester.

    Like the students that will take on new challenges at school in the new year, the city’s education departments are also under the burden of providing more school slots for the ever-growing student population as the city allows children of immigrant workers to sit for provincial and national exams in Shenzhen and adopts the second-child policy.

    Therefore, to provide more school places is considered one of the major goals for the government this year. Shenzhen mapped out a plan to build or expand 30 public primary and junior middle schools and four high schools this year, adding 47,000 slots this year.

    It’s worth mentioning that 70 percent of the school places will be added to the districts and areas that are outside of the former Shenzhen Special Economic Zone such as Longgang and Pingshan districts so as to balance the citywide educational resources, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau.

    For instance, the Bantian Subdistrict in Longgang lies at the juncture of four districts with a population exceeding 500,000. The shortage of quality educational resources had been an increasingly vexing problem for the area.

    In a bid to give better education to students, the city’s education bureau decided to place two schools of renowned educational groups namely the Shenzhen Foreign Languages Education Group and the Shenzhen Experimental Education Group there. The two schools will open this fall.

    As for high schools, construction will take place this year at four schools with an aim to add 6,600 slots for students. Two of the schools are newly built and will start to enroll students in September this year.

    As more children are born under the comprehensive second-child policy, kindergartens and preschools are growing in demand in Shenzhen.

    The city is also encouraging private enterprises to open and operate new kindergartens. It is estimated that 20,000 places will be added at to-be-built or expanded kindergartens this year.