Students are not encouraged to attend extracurricular classes and take study tours during summer vacation this year for the sake of their safety owing to the COVID-19 epidemic. They and their parents have come up with a handful of new holidaymaking options to make this special summer vacation joyous and fruitful.

Although primary and middle schools across the country postponed the opening of the second semester of the school year due to the epidemic, most schools kicked off the summer vacation in early July as scheduled, and planned to commence the new school year on September 1 as usual, which relieve the students from the struggle of catching up with the syllabus and thus enable the students to manage their time more freely and effectively during the months-long holiday.

A lot of students take online extracurricular courses on the sidelines of offline classes to keep their learning progressing. A mother surnamed Song signed her daughter up for online classes at a Chinese reading program organized for Grade 6 students by an extracurricular training school in Guangzhou. The school also arranged offline classes for the program. Both classes are witnessing active participation by students.

Song stated that her daughter has already adapted to online learning while studying from home during the epidemic. Students can manage their time with better flexibility with online classes as they can play back the video to review the lesson and to better understand complicated knowledge points.

During the epidemic some students have shown their potential for manipulating information technology through taking classes online. According to an expert, this year’s summer vacation may lead to the upgrading of learning methods, for more and more students are becoming capable of learning via digital devices instead of merely via their text books.

In another development, more families with children opt to travel in the provinces or the cities they live in instead of embarking on inter-provincial or international tours during the summer vacation.

Peng Yumeng, a primary school student living in Wuhan, Hubei Province, explored the natural surroundings of the city with her parents during the vacation. Her family visited Xi’an and Shangluo cities in Shaanxi Province last summer.

Some working parents are surprised to find that their children show great conscientiousness while staying at home alone and make their own daily schedule to manage their studying and leisure time appropriately.

The special summer vacation also makes parents rethink their views of family education. A mother surnamed Fang decided to send her kid to a summer military training camp held by the Huangpu Military School in Guangzhou instead of signing up for extracurricular classes. She holds that physical and mental health is more important than her child’s academic performance.

“Due to the epidemic, academic competitions for schools in primary education age have been cancelled. Private schools are also not allowed to adopt any lottery system while enrolling students. We should cut down the unnecessary school work of the students and enable them to have fun during the vacation,” said Zhang Renli, a senior regarded headmaster in Shanghai.

(Wang Haolan)